Sala: Garsington Opera, High Wycombe

Bruno Ravella's splendid 2021 production of Strauss' opera of Viennese manners returns with a fine cast. 

Music Director Douglas Boyd conducts a performance of exceptional musical quality, and Louisa Muller's uncontroversial but passionate direction makes this Traviata one for the ages.

Simple solutions prove the best in Beethoven's "problem" opera as John Cox's staging is revived at Garsington.

Ruth Knight untangles Handel's Rodelinda, directing a new staging at Garsington which features a feast of fine singing. 

Jack Furness directs a terrific new Queen of Spades at Garsington – haunting and harrowing. 

Simon Higlett’s exquisite sets and costumes give a backdrop to Donizetti’s frothiest of rom-coms.

Christopher Alden, Chris Hopkins and an excellent cast send us a comic roller coaster ride with Verdi’s ultra-rarely performed second opera.

In the first and last acts, ladies entered with a train still attached to a bolt of cloth, which was then cut to length by an attendant. Was this production brought to the stage in a great hurry, allowing no time for costume fittings?