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Stuart Skelton’s visceral Peter Grimes is matched by a strong cast with thrilling playing and singing from the Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra under Edward Gardner.

Roberto Abbado leads a strong cast in an inspired production by La Fura del Baus.

Mario Martone's 2006 production captures both the aesthetic and the spirit of the age.

Nathaniel Hackmann, a stocky baritone with the tenderest of timbres, was like a reincarnation of Alfred Drake.

The young tenor Maxim Mironov, who played the poet Giocondo, was the name on everyone's lips by the end of the show. His voice is a modestly-sized and soft-grained, but it is beautifully produced, and focuses to a laser-like point up top.

As clearly visible on all photos, the Sydney Opera House has two “sails”, interconnected major sections. One of them houses concerts, the other operas. Opera performances, however, are not exclusively taking place in the Opera Theatre.

Muti's reading of the score is extraordinary, both for its sophistication and originality.

An unapologetic treat at the Proms and a composition of immediate appeal.

A skilfully constructed production, and one that plays with the our perspectives. Whether the images are flashbacks from a war-troubled Wozzeck or a Büchner-esque portent of the horrors to come is left for the audience to decide.

Zemlinsky's dark story of infidelity and murder, from Oscar Wilde's unfinished play, poses a significant musical challenge for both audience and director. 

A sensational Die Walküre from Sir Andrew Davis and the RSNO at the Edinburgh Festival that will be talked about for years.

Semyon Bychkov turned in a magisterial account of Mussorgsky's rugged score, aided and abetted by some strong vocal performances.

Seattle Opera's visually poetic and refined Madama Butterfly peeks back at Puccini's own first version of the opera, which was arguably more openly critical of the devastation wrought by imperialism. 

Glimmerglass’ Porgy and Bess proves one more time that Gershwin’s opus remains America’s most important 20th-century opera.

The third opera of the Mozart-Da Ponte trilogy opens the opera festival in Drottningholm, the "Swedish Versailles", with a good cast beautifully conducted by Marc Minkowski.

Opera in the City puts two key short works side by side, both duos, to create an evening of contrasting voices in which mature, selfish passion quails before youthful promise. 

The performance of Margherita d’Anjou seen at the Festival della Valle d’Itria in Martina Franca was the first staged in modern times.

Gluck sought simplicity; Longborough Festival Opera delivers simplicity with a most enjoyable and engaging production of Orfeo

Glyndebourne's second Traviata cast of the summer saw the festival field three principals worthy of any major international opera house. 

This production of Antonio Vivaldi’s Orlando furioso showed the audience what a Baroque opera is.

The label “most opera directors” does *not* apply to Barrie Kosky, who makes his Bayreuth debut with a Meistersinger that pulls no punches.

A positive debut as stage director for soprano Stefania Bonfadelli in Verdi's early comic opera.

Offenbach's vivid setting of E.T.A. Hoffmann's fantastic tales gets an enjoyable outing, with Spyres, Testé and Pudova the undoubted stars of the show.

David Alden's staging of Alcina mines the rich theatricality of one of Handel's best-loved operas with enchanting but also perplexing results. 

The final opera in Sir John Eliot Gardiner's Monteverdi 450 trilogy features an excellent cast and inspires deep emotion.

With superb singing from Harteros, Salsi and Kaufmann, this production makes a strong case for Andrea Chénier’s continued presence in the repertoire.

Il ritorno d'Ulisse in patria, the second opera of the Monteverdi 450 trilogy being toured by Sir John Eliot Gardiner, had a strong performance in Salzburg.

The Gran Teatre del Liceu's revival of a shortened Merry Widow lacking some of the essence of this highly popular operetta.

This summer’s production of Bizet’s Carmen on the Seebühne stage in Bregenz offers a great spectacle. 

A grimly dark setting for Mozart's final opera, Sesto and Tito haunted by childhood memories. 

Sir John Eliot Gardiner's Monteverdi 450 trilogy began its Salzburg run with a tear-jerking concert performance of L'Orfeo.

Dorset Opera's second opera of their season saw a fiendishly good performance from Mark S Doss as Méphistophélès supported by a strong cast in Christopher Cowell's economical production.

A simple, but funny production with a strong cast and an enthusiastic chorus brought Rossini's comedy to life.

Outstanding performances from Nicole Car and Etienne Dupuis turn Opera Australia's unstaged production of Thaïs into a triumph at Sydney Town Hall.

Mason Bates's much-hyped first opera, The (R)evolution of Steve Jobs, excited Santa Fe audiences despite its dramatic shortcomings.

Wet English summer weather may have driven Bampton's pacy revival of Salieri's wickedly funny La scuola de' gelosi indoors, but rain could not dampen the sheer fun ahead. 

Skelton's Florestan provides the power in a refined, elegant performance that brings out the beauty in Beethoven's score.

Like most honest listeners I crave a taste of turpitude in Salome.

Static blocking and an uneven cast can't kill a Lucia di Lammermoor with a star this bright.

Santa Fe Opera's colorful and beautifully sung The Golden Cockerel makes a case for more Rimsky-Korsakov opera in the repertoire.

A convincing outing for Leoncavallo's rarely performed tale of adultery, populated by characters who are flesh and blood and are immediately recognisable today.

With Andris Nelsons' withdrawal from Bayreuth last year, the BSO’s summer home, Tanglewood, became the venue for his Wagner with a concert performance of Das Rheingold

Problems of orchestral balance cloud Olivia Fuchs's straightforward, compelling staging of Janáček’s tirade against the rigidity and hypocrisy of small town society.

A fresh, yet traditional Magic Flute at Longborough uses puppetry to bring an atmosphere of fairytale onto the stage, with fine singing from a strong cast. 

Puccini’s score has many thrilling moments, here taken up by a fascinating if uneven cast of singers.

Munich revived a thoughtful modern production of Janáček's Jenůfa, with fine orchestral direction and strong singing doing full justice to the rich score.

Lisette Oropesa gives a coloratura star turn; Renato Girolami and Andrey Zhilikhovsky give the buffo patter; Mariame Clément's staging focuses on the work’s dark side.

David McVicar's production may divide audiences with its no holds barred approach to the debauchery of the court of Mantua, but is well worth seeing for the Gilda of Tuuli Takala.

The fashion for reviving Mozart's teenage operas brings a vocally dazzling production of Lucio Silla to Buxton, nevertheless hampered by the work's own lack of believable drama and some fairly flat staging. 

The Castle in the Water, Sallinen's new “chronicle”, is a new work of innovative beauty. Tragic, comic and epic, in seventy-five minutes it tells the history of Olavinlinna and gives a snap-shot of those connected to it.