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With a combined age of 161 years, John Copley and Steuart Bedford certainly bring ample experience to Grange Festival's new production of Britten's Albert Herring. 

A superlative cast and perceptive staging make for a gripping revival of Strauss’s Ariadne auf Naxos at the Glyndebourne Festival.

Internationally acclaimed film director Wim Wenders and Daniel Barenboim give their debut with a rarely played opera by Georges Bizet.

Strong casting but intrusive direction makes this Fidelio a bizarrely intriguing experience, salvaged by some memorable singing. 

At the opera’s great climaxes Suffolk’s famous wood-and-brick building could barely contain it.

Daniela Barcellona and Jessica Pratt lead a strong cast in an emotional and elegant performance of the first opera seria by Rossini under the expert baton of Roberto Abbado. 

Wolf Trap Opera delivers high camp Rossini true to the composer.

A superlative performance of Carmen that was certainly among the most thrilling performances New Zealand Opera has put on in recent memory.

After all the speculation, Jonas Kaufmann made his role debut as Otello at The Royal Opera – an impressive, if not unqualified, success. 

Director Emma Dante revives Verdi's Macbeth for Turin's Teatro Regio, conducted by Gianandrea Noseda.

Rimsky-Korsakov’s opera is rarely performed outside Russia. Sadly, I doubt that Daniel Kramer’s staging for Opera Vlaanderen will win it many new friends.

The opera can be summed up by a line sung by the Countess in Act 4: “You’re killing her with all this noise.”

In Tarkovsky's venerable production, the Mariinsky orchestra and chorus are brilliant – but too brilliant for their soloists, including two replacement Borises for an indisposed Mikhail Petrenko.

A visually stunning production with a fine cast to match. 

Rodion Shchedrin's opera mixes singing, choreography and storytelling to lend a potent sacred and mystic overlay to Nikolai Leskov's folk tale.

Debussy’s opera of half-lights succeeds in taming the glare of the midsummer sun in Garsington’s new staging.

Isabelle Patriot-Pieri's new production is a quirky mix of traditional and the opposite; Netrebko shows her star quality; Eyvasov impresses.

In a state of almost child-like transfiguration and fulfilment, Strid's voice fully encompassed the extremes of the last scene.

Zubin Mehta brings a great deal of class to most things he conducts at La Scala, and here his bright account of Mozart's score was a joy. 

A riotous double bill of Pergolesi at the Boston Early Music Festival.

Sex and violence bubbles beneath the surface in this near-faultless staging of Carmen. 

Historically informed rarities from Rameau and Vinci aim to recreate the world of 18th-century opera-going in Paris. But a misaligned production distracts from this specialised experience.

Brecht and Weill's tirade against Big Money is exceptionally well acted throughout; vocal and musical performances are more mixed.

Clad in sulphurous yellow with beaded jet shoulder pads she looked well able to vanquish Lohengrin in single combat with the swish of her cloak.

Two years ago, Russian soprano Ekaterina Bakanova was thrust into her Royal Opera debut, stepping in at short notice as Violetta. Her triumph was enough for the powers that be to offer her a run of five performances this month.

Eva-Maria Westbroek proves an outstanding Káťa in the Staatsoper's revival of Janáček's opera, powerfully conducted by Simon Rattle. 

Lord Sidney's contemplation of the insanity of the world seems to be the impetus for this delirious production. So endless is its stream of gags that to attend this show is to be left feeling exhausted.

Lydia Steier’s colourful production of Alcina in Basel was as much a lesson in conflict resolution as it was in the power of love.

Grange Park Opera scored a direct hit with a fine production of Janáček's masterpiece, led by a superb performances from Natalya Romaniw and Susan Bullock as Jenůfa and the Kostelnička.

With Lully’s death in 1687 and Louis XIV’s increasing immersion in religious piety under the influence of Madame de Maintenon, the court ceased to exercise a strangle hold on opera.

Calixto Bieito's Tosca, despite an intriguingly modern setting, fails to make sparks fly.

Netia Jones' new production taps into Britten's silvery underworld in a staging dominated by video wizardry which is hypnotically beautiful, but comes at a price.

Brett Dean treats Shakespeare's behemoth as a timeless story told in language that has become timeless; no effort is spared in elucidating and amplifying that story.

Palazzetto Bru Zane, spurred on by the zealous advocacy of conductor François-Xavier Roth, has turned to Saint-Saëns' very first opera, Le Timbre d'argent.

In an elegant new production by Ivo van Hove, Malin Byström portrays a graceful, erotic Salome and the RCO play with sensuous lyricism under Daniele Gatti.

Lawrence Brownlee gives a compelling performance that truly does the groundbreaking saxophonist justice. 

A passionate revival of Longborough's 2015 production with outstanding performances from the principals.  

Jean-Baptiste Lemoyne tragédie lyrique – simply staged in the compact, antique space of the Théâtre des Bouffes du Nord – made for gripping drama. 

Woefully stiff acting lets down an otherwise excellent production; Joseph Calleja impresses in his role début as Cavaradossi.

Richard Wagner, reviewing La Reine de Chypre for the Dresden Abend-Zeitung, praised Halévy's opera as “decidedly the best that has appeared on the Opéra's boards since Meyerbeer's Les Huguenots”. It's impossible not to agree. 

Il ritorno d’Ulisse in patria tells one of the world’s great stories. This production is a treat for early opera fans and a great introduction for those new to the genre.

That both the lead and a second key role were ill and couldn’t sing did not bode well, yet this performance of Verdi’s Un Ballo in Maschera shook up the house nonetheless.

Superb singing and skilful acting make a good case for Radamisto in a conceptually ambitious new production which, while not entirely successful, is well worth seeing. 

Gloriously sung and stylishly played, this Rosenkavalier is a feast for the ears and eyes and should be heard without delay. 

Dangling and turning like shards of a giant overhead chandelier in Don Giovanni’s banquet hall, this is an evocative multimedia production that tantalizes the senses while shining new light on Mozart's genius. 

Until now I have been fairly sceptical about theatrical stagings of oratorios and other sacred works, so I was curious but cautious about the staging of Monteverdi's Vespers at the Holland Festival.

Bartoli shines in another Rossini role supported by an uneven cast.

A slick production from the Garsington Opera Company, who use the location of the Wormley Estate to their full advantage. 

Mozart's Don Giovanni is transported by director Oliver Platt to The Queen Mary in the 1930s. It looks handsome enough, but the concept is flawed.

Music Director Ludovic Morlot, known for his intriguing programming, outdid himself with a summery breeze of a program that enchanted from beginning to end.