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Stephen Gould is less than convincing in the lead role of Tannhäuser, but excellent ensemble work under Ádám Fischer's inspired direction offers compensations.

A committed cast make this  a beautifully performed ensemble piece in which the tragedy of young love cut short by untimely disease is compellingly put across.

Shostakovich's early masterpiece is fêted at the Komische Oper Berlin

Bruno Ravella's fast-paced Falstaff for Garsington still has crucial space for pathos amid the comedy, with a notably subtle central performance from Henry Waddington.  

As part of the annual Wagner festival in the Hungarian capital, Peter Seiffert and Allison Oakes star as the doomed lovers.

With a glinting voice of a youthful sheen, like bracing Nordic air, Kirstin Sharpin was entirely convincing as the obsessed dreamer, Senta.

An intimate setting for the 18th-century work do from hell.

Interviewed at the time of this production's first outing, McVicar declared that “Entertainment is not a dirty word”. His Giulio Cesare remains a hugely entertaining opera production.

From the stately front of The Grange, an impressive moustache looms large, welcoming the audience to a production of Rossini's masterpiece that baffles, confuses and delights the audience.

A concert performance of Arianna in Creta at the Halle Handel Festival riveted the audience with the towering talent of Ann Hallenberg and uniformly fine singing, acting and playing.

Grange Park Opera’s enjoyable new production of Verdi’s Un ballo in maschera looks a little homespun on stage, but has plenty of musical compensations.

In the climax of the season at Bridgewater Hall, the BBC Philharmonic bid a fond farewell to Juanjo Mena in an evening that blew off your sombrero. 

A resounding success at its 1709 première, Handel’s Agrippina gripped the ear and dazzled the eye at the Grange Festival in a hugely entertaining and powerful performance.

Emily Howard's new opera, an Aldeburgh Festival commission, takes an ambitiously modernist approach to a dystopian story of loneliness: a tough, but thought-provoking work. 

The battle of the choirs is a thrilling moment in just about any performance of Dutchman, but produces shock and awe in the live acoustics of Budapest's Bartok Bela Concert Hall.

David Alden’s new production for The Royal Opera, referencing fascist Germany, is drab, but there are musical compensations. 

Willy Decker's enduring production gets smart treatment in a handsome revival.

Barcelona’s Gran Teatre del Liceu stages Puccini’s first great success as an operatic composer, Manon Lescaut with the stage direction of Davide Livermore. 

Classical Opera’s performance of one of Mozart’s earliest operas throbbed with youthful energy; a strong cast brought the humour to life and made up for any weakness in the score.

Harding's grasp of the work's architecture that provides overall coherence. That, combined with the pithy, pulsing core he forges at its heart, makes this performance as engaging as it is polished.

Selectively unearthed from current critical editions, this fabulously performed new Hoffmann plumbs the murky depths of its antihero’s psyche.

A successful musical production of Lully’s masterpiece with Perm Opera’s MusicAeterna chorus and orchestra, Le Poème Harmonique, and a tremendous French-Russian cast.

Musically, a rewarding Forza, but Homoki's staging is best forgotten.

A staged performance of Handel’s pasticcio opera Oreste shows a strong narrative structure and provides a vehicle for promising young singers.

In the Brokeback Mountain, Wuorinen's  powerfully depicts the stern landscapes, the omnipresent menace, the desolate life of the characters and their awkward interactions.

Rachel Kelly shines in a mixed production at Lismore Castle. 

An affirmation of the importance of cultural values in the face of the abyss, or Richard Strauss fiddling while Europe burnt? Tim Albery's production leaves it to us to decide.

A twist on the usual Enlightenment path, this is an admirable production, excellently executed.

As the two sisters, Eleanor Dennis and Kitty Whately ideally complemented and blended with each other.  

Charming and hilarious by turn, this production fields a largely young and Kiwi cast.

Opera Holland Park starts its 2018 season with a bang (and a cough), offering a splendid new production of La traviata. Lauren Fagan is a sensational Violetta, but the production is a real company effort and achievement.

Jeff Clarke's characteristically high-octane style seems made for the sarcastic, hyperactive existential madness that is Candide in this little gem of a production for Iford. 

Despite some dramatic frustrations, at least in Oslo, Jones' production is saved by some truly outstanding singing.

Sigrid T'Hooft's witty Baroque styled *Parnasso in festa* at the Halle Handel Festival could hardly be better in any respect

John Butt’s revisitation of the Handel oratorio Samson at the Halle Handel Festival displayed this treasured work in an illuminating and satisfying light.

An intense intellectual melodrama from Aucoin, with superb playing by members of the LA Opera Orchestra.

Malin Byström convinces as the Feldmarschallin with Adrian Angelico as a strong Octavian, under the baton of Alan Gilbert.

The profusion of images and ideas in Frank Castorf's Bavarian Staatsoper production of From the House of the Dead threatens to rob Janáček's opera of its humanity.

Oper Frankfurt's revival of Richard Jones's production of Billy Budd with a homegrown cast is a devastating combination of powerful music and searing drama.

A post post-modern production of Berenice threw distraction upon distraction at the audience, but was saved by good singing and orchestral playing.

The inventiveness of Ruth Berghaus' classic staging is a clear as ever, even if this revival occasionally loses focus.

You feel you ought not to approve of such directorial extravagance, but catch yourself being drawn into the grand pageant. 

Marco Tullio Giordana's new production at the Maggio Musicale may be static, but musically there's much to enjoy in this rare slice of middle-period Verdi.

Vienna State Opera offered a solid production in which precious little gleamed.

In a highly effective stage presentation, the Minnesota Opera tells Jules Massenet’s story of two personalities whose spiritual journeys are like two ships passing in the night.

Strauss' mix of bedroom farce, comedy of manners and bittersweet musing about aging is acted and sung superbly in this revival of Richard Jones' production.

The most talked about new production in the New National Theatre Tokyo’s 20th anniversary season undercuts Beethoven’s idealism.

After dipping its toe in the cherry blossom for Glyndebourne's Tour in 2016, Annilese Miskimmon's staging of Puccini's gut-wrencher hits the main festival.

Weill’s New York Street Scene is a successful ensemble end of year piece for the students of RCS, ably directed by Alexandra Spencer-Jones, Robert Houssart conducting with the orchestra on top form.

Anja Harteros takes a while to hit her stride in a Don Carlo that doesn't quite gel.