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Leo Muscato directs an operatic rarity at the Festival Valle d'Itria, with Federico Maria Sardelli leading Orchestra Barocca Modo Antiquo.

A masterpiece from one of the Neapolitan School's most important protagonists, this rarely heard opera is musically rewarding but confusingly staged.

A concert performance makes our reviewer at the Teatro San Carlo pine for a return to staged opera. 

The Donizetti Opera festival continues its remarkable initiative to stage every opera on its bicentennial.

A bland staging: at the end what really emerged was Rossini’s glorious music, its intelligent construction and perfect beauty.

In a successfully streamlined staging, Stefano Landi’s obscure, overpopulated opera got the royal treatment by a superior cast and orchestra.

The performance of Margherita d’Anjou seen at the Festival della Valle d’Itria in Martina Franca was the first staged in modern times.

Suggesting that Otello was a migrant, like modern refugees, was not a great staging idea for a production which could count on an high-rate vocal cast.

Wonderful costumes, sublime comic timing, beautiful playing and world class singing.  A 5* production of La Cenerentola at the Gothneburg Opera.

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.

In times where musical luxury is sometimes associated with having a pop star perform a short “Happy Birthday” and a handful of songs in a private performance – and for a usually undisclosed (and indecent) fee, having a whole piece of music composed for an occasion, or organising a private performance by a famous orchestra, is almost unimaginable.

When Jean-Christophe Spinosi stepped onto the podium to conduct Le Comte Ory that night, he didn’t wait for his applause to cease, but instantly cued a hearty forte from the Ensemble Matheus, and consequently a few incredulous looks from the audience.

A father having marriage plans for his daughter of which the latter does not approve may not be the most original plot, but it has inspired operas throughout the centuries, with well-known examples being The Bartered Bride and Arabella.