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An oriental sweetmeat from the pen of Henri Rabaud, based on a tale from The Arabian Nights, is revived triumphantly in Paris. 

Bartlett Sher's production of Gounod's Romeo et Juliette returns to the Met. 

The acting was patchy and the singing ranged from serviceable to laudable in this dazzling new production at the Budapest Spring Festival.

In a pasticcio of Hasse’s Artaserse and Ezio, director Balázs Kovalik and the students of the Theaterakademie August Everding stage the life of Wilhelmine von Bayreuth.

Laurent Pelly’s staging provided some of the most memorable moments in this performance of Cendrillon. 

The director presents the story clearly enough, but apart from that, there is not much going for this production.

Opera Atelier's return to the earliest part of the repertoire with Monteverdi's Il ritorno d'Ulisse in patria showcases their strengths in a relatively restrained production anchored by a strong ensemble cast.

Opera North's Salome, conducted by Sir Richard Armstrong at Leeds Town Hall, caught the seductive frenzy of the opera.

An exemplary cast, an opulent orchestra and unforgettable images in Arnold Schoenberg’s Gurrelieder.

Candide is a witty satiric fable, intelligent, literary but not to a fault, and vastly entertaining. Created by a team of collaborators who fell out at different times in the work’s 52 year history – at one point or another, Lillian Hellman, Richard Wilbur, John Latouche, Dorothy Parker, Stephen Sondheim and, of course, composer Leonard Bernstein had a hand in it – it is unique in the operat

A wonderful ful-filled caper by the Irish National Opera of Mozart's The Marriage of Figaro with Erraught as Susanna and Miskelly as Cherubino really impressing. 

The quality cast purred, but glorious roars are required to jolt audiences from placid enjoyment of Opera Australia’s gorgeous 24-year-old production of this Verdi classic.

The forces of Theater Aachen impress in a suitably harrowing and searing production of Poulenc's Dialogues des Carmèlites.

The use in the score of ancient musical instruments is what differentiates this work: pifferi, a lute, a “viola pomposa” give this work a distinctive flavour.

Many scenes could risk to be particularly disturbing,  but their overt brutality appeared functional, to the structure of the drama. A dark, gloomy story as unambiguously told as it should be.

Ivor Bolton and David McVicar have teamed up to create an unapologetically Brittenian Gloriana, with Anna Caterina Antonacci at the top of a great cast

Ceresa’s flamboyant production from the Festival della Valle d’Itria is revived in Venice with a strong cast under the baton of Diego Fasolis.

The Royal Opera Orchestra produce a revelatory reading of Shostakovich’s eclectic score; a fine performance from Eva-Maria Westbroek and excellent acting from the whole cast light up the drama and farce.

Gaetano Donizetti’s Maria Stuarda is perhaps most famous for a single and highly emotional scene in which two monarchs engage in a venomous confrontation. One is doomed to die. 

Anna Devin's Cleopatra moved with complete conviction for scheming minx to mature woman in love.

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

Odyssey Opera comes full circle closing its season “Trial By Fire“ with another opera rooted in Schiller’s Die Jungfrau von Orléans, Giovanna d’Arco. Verdi’s seventh opera is an uneven, retrograde effort which fails to mine further the rich vein he had struck in Ernani.

The National Theater takes a bold step forward with a smart realization of a literary grotesquerie.

After staged performances in Baden Baden, the Berlin Phil's Parsifal is presented in concert at the Philharmonie, with a couple of key cast changes. 

Pippo Delbono, an advocate of experimental theatre, tests the audience's patience at Opera di Roma, masking some enjoyable musical performances.

Director Davide Livermore sets the story at the time of the Dolce Vita, including the motorbike from the film Roman Holiday and the roadster from The Easy Life.

A flamboyant production and a wonderful cast of singers seals a big success for this gem of the early Baroque.

The role of Luisa, some of the daintier coloratura aside, fits Sonya Yoncheva like a glove. 

Amidst mixed vocal performances, competent orchestral playing and spectacular staging, Guanqun Yu took the limelight as a devout and sincere Liù.

The 1957 production of Parsifal, with its traditional staging and dreamy imageries, was a perfect backdrop to showcase Wagner's celebration of stage play with music on Good Friday.

Kirill Petrenko’s second night at Carnegie Hall packed a punch as the orchestra of the Bayerische Staatsoper delved deep into Strauss’ score, supporting an impressive cast of singers.

Mark-Anthony Turnage's take on Neil Gaiman's classic young adult novella is well sung and well staged, without quite reaching peak intensity.

Fiona Shaw's production doesn't always get everything right, but Lucy Crowe's debut as the Countess is the defining success of the this revival.

Tchaikovsky's opera packs a powerful emotional punch in the Komische Oper's concentrated and dreamlike production.

Nicola Raab puts Byron at the heart of Il corsaro in her new production for the Palau de les Arts, but doesn’t always know what to do with him.

Kirill Petrenko paid attention to details that many times get lost.

Even without stage machinery or sets, The English Concert’s performance of Handel’s Rinaldo was enchanting. 

The Royal Opera's revival of Phyllida Lloyd's production is marked by two outstanding Verdian singers and a superb rendering of the score from Pappano and the ROH Orchestra.

Christian Carsten’s hilarious production of Die Gärtnerin aus Liebe reveals Mozart’s non-judgmental social satire and irrepressible sense of fun.

Every time Ponchielli’s La Gioconda is staged its popular fortune is renewed, but the diffidence of the musicography also remains unchanged.

Michael Volle makes his debut as Verdi's not-so-Fat Knight in Mario Martone's new production at the Staatsoper, with Daniel Barenboim conducting. 

Antony McDonald’s take on Ariadne auf Naxos, a co-production from Scottish Opera and Opera Holland Park, sparkles with wit. 

Dieter Dorn’s staging robbed Wagner’s final masterwork of magic and mystery while Simon Rattle set new speed records.

Handa Opera on Sydney Harbour returns with La bohème, in a fine production by Andy Morton, with star turns from Iulia Maria Dan and Ho-Yoon Chung in the lead roles.

Fellow Travelers is shot through with darkness, making for a chilling performance by Lyric Opera of Chicago. 

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

Stefan Herheim packs puns and gags into a three-hour long show, but less could have been more. 

Though occasionally entertaining, this production was ultimately unsatisfying as a stage presentation of Bernstein’s work. 

What is the link between Bernstein’s criticism of American consumerism and MacMillan's biblical tale?

Phelim McDermott’s new Met production is set in Brooklyn’s Coney Island in the late 1950s and is brilliantly vivid looking, but Mozart's music plays second fiddle.