Find opera reviews

A conventional and quite predictable staging of Lehár’s most famous operetta was saved by dedicated musicians.

Michieletto's production for the Teatro dell'Opera in Rome is fresh, intelligent and destined to go down as one of his best. 

The current stage-setting of Arabella at the Wiener Staatsoper proves that “all that’s Glittenberg” is not gold.

The father-daughter exchanges between Dmitri Platanias's jester and Sofia Fomina's Gilda prove the highlights of an evening which doesn't always catch fire.

The Staatsoper's new L'incoronazione di Poppea is serious, intelligent but short on fire.

Apparently, the composer himself was a notorious cheater, we can assume that some of the unsavoury themes of his 1904 opera “Madame Butterfly” were close to the bone.

Christophe Rousset and Les Talens Lyriques perform Alceste, the most recent effort in their almost complete set of Lully's operas. A strong cast and a remarkable chorus complete a successful performance.

Under elegant leadership of conductor Harry Bicket, the Met's revival of the "Marriage of Figaro" succeeds with a strong ensemble of cast.

A new production of Humperdinck's charming opera fails to enchant at the Erkel Theatre. 

A movie-like staging for Puccini's most original opera at the Teatro San Carlo.

Tatjana Gürbaca’s whole scale tampering with Wagner’s Siegfried had so many flashbacks and flashforwards there should have been a warning for photosensitive members of the audience.  

Co-Opera have discovered some treasures of young talent in this carefully crafted La bohème, none more so than Victoria Coxhill, who sang an outstanding Mimì.

Achim Freyer's production robs Humperdinck's fairy tale of heart and drama at the Lindenoper.

The big season opener at La Scala offers few surprises in a traditional staging, although Yusif Eyvazov proved his worth in the title role. 

Vienna staged the first three-act performance of Lulu with Willy Decker adding to his 2000 production, with excellent singing contributing to its success.

The winter revival of the Met’s opening night Norma brought a new conductor and new stars in the main two female roles.

German theatre director Uwe Eric Laufenberg freely incorporates some of Stanley Kubrik’s horror story concepts into his Elektra, but in ignoring both Sophocles and Strauss, is a long way from shining.  

The Wiener Staatsoper revives a beautiful production of Daphne that juxtaposes myth, dream and reality, with brilliant vocal performances by the two leads.

Scottish Opera and the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland with an international cast pack a huge punch in a concert performance of Prokofiev’s The Fiery Angel.

Despite a strong vocal and orchestral performance, David Hockney's sets are still the main draw for San Francisco Opera's Turandot. 

Celebrating a courageous woman who is able to secure the release of her husband from prison, Beethoven’s sole opera Fidelio has music that is more compelling that its plot.

“Fiddler on the Roof” as a universal parable of tradition 

Even stronger than first time round, Michieletto's impressive staging is complemented by an outstanding double role debut from Hymel and a heartbreaking Santuzza from Elīna Garanča.

The 2011 Lyon production, with an excellent orchestral and vocal performance, brings an austerely moonlit version of Tristan und Isolde to Barcelona.

A young, vibrant cast brings to life a rarely performed Baroque opera, in the production from the Festival d'Aix-en-Provence.

Gifted conductor Andrea Battistoni and a vocally seductive cast made this revival of Benedict Andrews’s flawed La bohème a musical triumph.

Christian Gerhaher’s experience in a role he knows well rescued an evening of mitigated pleasures.

Pinchgut Opera's L'incoronazione di Poppea is a glorious feast of singing, acting and playing but the production is brutal, taking Monteverdi's vision of corruption in high places to excessive lengths.

Lindy Hume's Victorian production brings to life Cinderella's story through the capable hands of Jean-Christophe Spinosi.

The Royal College of Music's first opera of the season, The Cunning Little Vixen has some excellent singing and first-class playing from the student orchestra.

Absent from theatres for more than a century and a half, Donizetti's comedy about Tsar Peter the Great is revived in the composer's home town.

Oliver Py's new Meyerbeer staging offers plenty of clichés, but is a solid show, backed up by a fine musical performance.

Christoph Loy's Oslo production of Wozzeck is a dramatic triumph, with gripping performances from a cast led by Audun Iversen's desperate title character.

Adams and Peter Sellars demand that the audience take a cold, hard look at the Gold Rush and the founding history of California.

Monstyrska dominates as Abigaille, Domingo brings his unique baritenor style to the title role, Thaddeus Strassberger creates a riot of colour and antiquarian style.

An evening of exquisite Baroque music and flamboyant coloratura at the Royal Theatre in Versailles.

Lengthy but full of melodic invention, Semiramide finally made her triumphant return to the Royal Opera in David Alden's fine new production.

A decent cast was unable to redeem a fundamentally dull opera that lacks the psycholgical complexity and tension of both the original Graham novel and its famous Hitchcock adaptation.

Marble and solitude: Willy Decker's view of La clemenza di Tito is revived with a strong cast at L'Opéra de Paris.

A compelling and energetic debut production from a new opera company in the raddled surroundings of Wilton's Music Hall.

Tokyo's New National Theatre is currently celebrating its twentieth anniversary season with three new productions and revivals of their most popular productions including Vincent Boussard’s minimal yet colourful Traviata.

Ailyn Pérez draws every eye and ear to her in an easy-on-the-eye production that doesn't solve some of the work's inherent contradictions.

Barrie Kosky’s clever direction enlivens a Strauss rarity at the Bayerische Staatsoper but the minimalist stage setting sinks HMS Schweigsame Frau.

Renzetti's traditional rendition does not reveal yet unprecedented details of a score that is the summation of Verdi's mastery and his last work – his third based on Shakespeare.

The work takes its inspiration from the life of the little known Italian composer Alessandro Stradella who ended his life stabbed by killers sent by the husbands of his innumerable mistresses.

An unlikely coupling of one-act operas by Zemlinsky and Puccini bears fruit in a staging that reveals their thematic parallels while leaving their obvious differences on show.

The production was interesting but at times distracting, but the musical performances triumphed. 

Guest conductor Charles Dutoit returned to Los Angeles for a program devoted to one of the composers he is most closely associated with. 

Despite its title, the victims dominate Julian Grant and Mark Campbell’s caustic one-act opera. 

 “The Minghella Butterfly” has physically lost none of its luster, but the singing did not live up to the staging.