After nearly two decades away from the Covent Garden stage, it was time Britten's Billy Budd came home, in a new production from Madrid by Deborah Warner.
The 20 strong ensemble allies African choral singing of the highest calibre to movement, percussion and drama to give a potent reading of a World War I incident that should not be forgotten.
Staging the story of the Italian political figure Rienzi as that of a dictator in 20th-century Germany was an inspired idea. This revival was a rare occasion to experience Wagner's early opera.
Short of the three lead stars of its opening, the Royal Opera's La forza del destino remains a thrilling evening, powered by Christof Loy's interesting staging and virile singing from Christopher Maltman.
Turkish-Italian director Ferzan Ozpetek stages this new production of Madama Butterfly at Teatro San Carlo in Naples with a fine, penetrating approach.
There's little to like in Andrea Moses' production, but a fine cast and glorious playing and conducting make for an enthralling performance of Wagner's grand comedy.
Giancarlo Andretta conducts the Netherlands Radio Philharmonic and Choir and a fine team of soloists led by Tatiana Serjan's Abigaille into an exhilarating Nabucco.
A terrific cast, led by soprano Celine Byrne and conducted by Patrik Ringborg deliver a compelling and thrilling performance of Korngold's Die tote Stadt.
In a program devoted to Béla Bartók, the visitors from Hungary conveyed both a distinct uniqueness of their heritage as well as a possibility of music as a tool for communication and understanding.
Orchestra and chorus reach great Wagnerian heights in this new production by Christof Loy, a study of an artist in revolt against hypocritical sexual mores.
Against the Grain's production of Vivier's Kopernikus is an immersive and thought provoking realisation of the composer's late Opera – rituel de mort. It's music theatre of a rare intensity, brilliantly executed.
As the culmination of Muti's Italian Opera Academy in Tokyo, the maestro conducted a model performance of selected excerpts from Rigoletto in the main hall of Tokyo Bunka Kaikan.
The Met's revival of Jean-Pierre Ponnelle's 1984 production of La clemenza di Tito is given a new breath of life with superb conducting and an excellent ensemble of singers.
Visual eye candy, excellent singing and superb Handelian playing by Laurence Cummings and the London Handel Orchestra are marred by poor diction and limited acting expressivity.
Programming Stephen Sondheim’s A Little Night Music is quite a daring move in a country with no real tradition in musical. This production by Nederlands Reisopera shows that fortune favours the bold.
Byrne is stunning in the title role while a strong cast of singers, orchestra, classic sets and dramatic acting make this a thoroughly enjoyable performance.
Performing Carmen in the open works well. This open-air Adelaide event combined wonderful music and delightful singing, making for an impressive evening.
The hottest opera ticket in London this season sees Jonas Kaufmann and Anna Netrebko reunited on the Royal Opera House's stage for the first time since 2008. It was worth the wait.
One of Teatro San Carlo’s most cherished productions of recent years, with an excellent cast of singers and a director who steered at his ease into the libretto’s erratic changes of mood and atmosphere.
Simon McBurney's production of The Magic Flute continues to delight and this revival benefits from a strong cast, led by the superb Lucy Crowe as Pamina.
Peter Konwitschny's production strips away much of the religious symbolism, presenting the difference between Jews and Christians as little more than the dyed colour of their hands.
Stefano Mazzonis di Pralafera's staging for Opéra Royal de Wallonie-Liège is stolid in direction, but Speranza Scappucci breathes life into Verdi's drama from the pit.
