Live, Video: Find classical music concert, opera, ballet and dance reviews | English | Roberto Tagliavini

Adele Thomas’ Royal Opera staging channels the Marx Brothers in playing it for laughs, but the musical compensations are many under Sir Antonio Pappano.

Pretty Yende and John Osborn bring star quality to this revival of John Dew’s Vienna staging of Bellini's Civil War opera.

Amartuvshin Enkhbat and María José Siri spar as father and daughter in Günter Krämer's tired production of Verdi's biblical epic. 

A new production by Pier Luigi Pizzi opens the festival in Pesaro with Giacomo Sagripanti in the pit leading a strong cast and powerful chorus.

Riccardo Chailly leads a splendid cast in Verdi’s masterpiece as La Scala leads the way in these troubled times, when the opera world is so volatile and fragile, by focusing on the music, holding onto artistic values. 

With their second open-air concert performance, Teatro di San Carlo scores another hit.

At Dutch National Opera in Amsterdam, Laurent Pelly stages Cenenrentola as a pink daydream.

Kasper Holten's psychological take on the louche lothario remains controversial, but in its third revival, Erwin Schrott's powerful assumption of the title role is a delight.

Javier Camarena’s debut as Edgardo contributed to a triumphal night at the Teatro Real together with Lisette Oropesa’s charismatic Lucia and David Alden’s powerful staging.

In a disappointing revival of Hugo de Ana's clichéd and clumsy production, Liudmyla Monastyrska and Violeta Urmana confronted each other with their superb vocal techniques and diverging styles.

Emilio Sagi’s brightly lit but simplistic staging of Il viaggio a Reims moves the action from northern France to a sunny spa hotel in warmer climes.

Muti's reading of the score is extraordinary, both for its sophistication and originality.

A zinging account of Verdi's score, making up for Daniele Abbado's nondescript production. 

A lacklustre season opening at Teatro Real proves once again the elusive nature of Verdi's masterpiece.

On Saturday night, nine androgynous, saucy, rambunctious dancing witches with thick, three-foot tails and exuberant tassels, whose heritage included the Wizard of Oz and the Lion King, stole the show. 

Despite the sombre staging, it’s the vocal fire that blazes in this impressive Trovatore in Paris.

At the Dutch National Opera, director Àlex Ollé from La Fura dels Baus stages a dark and monochromatic Trovatore, in which the four stars shine.

After an absence of 145 years, Teato alla Scala staged Gioachino Rossini's Otello in a painterly Jürgen Flimm production, sparse set inspired by conversations with Anselm Kiefer.

Director Michieletto’s playful staging, Stefano Montanari’s expressive conducting and stylish singing from a cast of seasoned Rossinian singers make for a thoroughly enjoyable new production of the too rare Il viaggio a Reims at the Dutch National Opera.

Gounod’s Roméo et Juliette attracted a large audience for a concert performance from Madrid, enticed by Roberto Alagna's Roméo.

The singing is strong and the stagework slick in Laurent Pelly's rib-tickling, often uproarious production of Le Comte Ory.

If you are going to see Verdi’s I due Foscari, this production is likely the way to do it. Although this production is by no means unflawed, there are several reasons that it is a must-see for opera fans in Vienna.

Attila, Verdi’s ode to Italy (one of them), made its world première in Venice to huge bursts of patriotic feeling. “You can have the universe, but leave Italy for me!” exclaimed the Roman general Ezio, and the audience erupted. Small wonder: the opera appeared at the height of the Risorgimento, when Italy was in the process of unifying into one state.

Otello, Verdi’s penultimate opera, is a tightly-wound setting of Shakespeare’s familiar tragedy. From the opening storm to the title character dying upon a kiss, it is more fragmentary and emotionally cool than his earlier work, an opera that tends to be more admired than loved.