Live, Video: Find classical music concert, opera, ballet and dance reviews | English | Michael Mayes

Despite some confused visual elements, an excellent musical performance makes Seattle Opera's production well worth watching.

English National Opera's It’s a Wonderful Life makes for a feel-good evening of theatre, but it requires a sweet tooth.

Ryan McAdams conducts Tosca at the Kansas City Lyric Opera in a production by a famous former Tosca, Carol Vaness. 

In place of a full musical, this revue highlighted classic and contemporary songs that celebrate places and cultures, although some selections seemed questionable out of context.

Rising mezzo-soprano Raehann Bryce-Davis offers a gorgeously sung and grippingly acted portrait of Verdi's gypsy. 

General and Artistic Director Tomer Zvulun unleashes an unending flow of creativity and originality in The Threepenny Carmen. 

David Lefkowich takes Pagliacci into the big top for a contemporary treatment at the the Steriti Rink.

Jake Heggie's Dead Man Walking is credited as being the most performed 21st-century opera, and with good reason.

Jake Heggie's spectacular vocal writing combine with Terence McNally's perfectly paced libretto to provide intense music drama which forces you to confront darkness.

Jake Heggie's story of redemption captivated the Teatro Real audience thanks to a solid cast and an effective production

American composer Jake Heggie's early opera performed by Washington National Opera was one of those rare experiences of an opera full of raw power and wrenching emotion with superb performers that one is not likely to forget soon.

If you think you know Carmen, think you know Calixto Bieto, then you definitely should head to the Opera House and have your eyes opened on both counts.

Returning stars and high-profile company debuts contributed panache to the energy-charged atmosphere.

Bard SummerScape made musical history by presenting the first full staging of British composer Ethel Smyth’s opera The Wreckers. Born in 1858 and dying in 1944, Smyth was celebrated in her day (John Singer Sargent painted her portrait in 1901) not only for her compositions, but for being an openly bisexual member of the suffrage movement.

Opera Parallèle’s superb production of Heggie's Dead Man Walking reveals a prism of anger and forgiveness. 

The Fort Worth Opera closed their 2012 Festival on Sunday afternoon with the second of two performances of Mark Adamo’s Lysistrata, or the Nude Goddess. After hearing a strong Marriage of Figaro at the festival Friday evening, I had fairly high expectations, some of which were met, others not.