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A historical staging with well sung arias doesn't really bring Puccini's opera alive as Rome marks its 125th anniversary. 

Appearing in Naples after an absence of 34 years, Bellini's opera was given in a concert performance headed by Lisette Oropesa and Xabier Anduaga.

Living in an environment influenced by French culture, Verdi saw the chance of breathing new life into the Italian opera through the grand-opéra. Les Vêpres siciliennes is his successful attempt.

Robert Wilson's Madama Butterfly is back in Amsterdam starring rising star Elena Stikhina as the doomed Cio-Cio-San.

Traditionally, Italy's most unforgiving loggionisti are reputed to reside at Parma's Teatro Regio. Thankfully for the cast, they appear to be a dying breed.

Alessandro Talevi's gorgeous staging recreates Tosca as it might have been seen at its 1900 première. 

An unlikely coupling of one-act operas by Zemlinsky and Puccini bears fruit in a staging that reveals their thematic parallels while leaving their obvious differences on show.

Teatro di San Carlo closed its Opera Festival summer season with Le nozze di Figaro, which director Chiara Muti staged as a timeless classic

The Chicago Symphony and Riccardo Muti celebrate Shakespeare's Anniversary.

The visual results are stunning, though an uneven cast made this a performance with clear weaknesses as well as strengths. Aquiles Machado's Cavaradossi, on the other hand, was an indubitable revelation.