Find classical music concert, opera, ballet and dance reviews | Verdi

Outstanding vocal and orchestral performances light up La Scala's season opener, matched to a conservative but visually arresting staging from Davide Livermore.

A new production of La Traviata, colorful and conventional, brings little new ideas but is a fine vehicle for a fine performance conducted by Yannick Nezet-Seguin that features a trio of excellent singers.

The Kungliga Operan presents a stagnant production of Verdi’s masterpiece, with a competent cast comprised mostly of Swedish singers.

Michael Barker-Caven sets Aida in a 21st-century war zone in the Middle-East, allowing the audience to focus on the human drama.

Even given a routine revival, McVicar's staging has much to recommend it, returning the opera to its literary roots. 

This is one of Michieletto's simplest stagings yet, the imagery used to a minimum to allow for focus on the psychological core.

Mark Elder and the LPO's performance of Puccini's Le Willis proved interesting and frustrating in equal measure, rescued by a star performance from Ermonela Jaho.

An impressively cast revival for Verdi's one-time neglected masterpiece at Covent Garden.

Top tenors Lawrence Brownlee and Michael Spyres dared to duel at the Concertgebouw. Both emerged victorious, and not just because of the volley of sensational top notes.

Carè, Katzarava and Treichl give committed performances in a reprise of Cavanagh’s production.

Perhaps feeling that the drama and emotion of the Ring Cycle wasn't enough for one year, Antonio Pappano assembled a strong quartet and deployed the ROH's forces in a powerful, moving performance of Verdi's Messa da Requiem.

A strong new Traviata from Washington National Opera with the welcome house debut of Venera Gimadieva as a fabulous Violetta.

More relevant than ever, the patriarchal nightmare of Verdi's Rigoletto is dark and unflinching in Scottish Opera's revival of their 2011 production, with some striking scenes and fine singing.

An emotionally intense Violetta from Mané Galoyan in Tom Cairns' darkly challenging La traviata launches Glyndebourne Tour's 50th season

Female voices dominate in the vocal cast: Rachel Willis-Sørensen debuts as Leonora and charms the audience; Anna Maria Chiuri has the temperament and rich vocality requested by the role of the gypsy.

Jean-Paul Scarpitta’s San Carlo staging was almost as minimal as a biblical oratorio.

Since their creation in 2010, NIO has brought unconventional opera productions to Northern Ireland. Their Rigoletto is bold, emotional and engaging with a stellar cast of local and international talent.

Traditionally, Italy's most unforgiving loggionisti are reputed to reside at Parma's Teatro Regio. Thankfully for the cast, they appear to be a dying breed.

Verdi's fifth opera can be considered a blueprint for Trovatore and deserves a more regular place in the repertoire, but it needs more sincere advocacy than Bechtolf is prepared to grant.

When they asked Wilson to stage an opera by Verdi, the Texan director replied "I'll never do it!". Now he is at his fourth Verdi's production.

Netrebko met the audience’s high expectations, as she does every time, conquering the challenges with her remarkable artistry. 

This concert was inevitably the sum of far more than its parts, and not for nothing are the Monteverdi Choir and the Orchestre Revolutionnaire et Romantiquem, regarded as among the best in the world

Fresh energy and vibrant comedy marks the Trocks' return to the UK  

A quartet of superb soloists shine through an orchestral and choral performance of great precision to bring out Verdi’s powerful evocation of the terror of eternal damnation.

Yannick Nézet-Séguin's final tour as Chief Conductor of the Rotterdam Philharmonic brought out the tender side of Bruckner and Liszt. 

Domingo Hindoyan conducts a cast of Swedish performers in Verdi’s masterpiece, for the Baltic Sea Festival.

Opera Bohemia provides a fun-filled showcase for Conservatoire graduates in a finely sung Falstaff heading for the Edinburgh Fringe with a small orchestra.

Svoboda’s mirrors continue to provoke interesting considerations. Titled above the stage, they project a birds-eye-view of the action to the audience, making voyeurs of us all.

Davide Livermore's digital set for Opera Australia's new production of Aida ushers in a new type of staging to the Sydney Opera House, and backs up a stellar performance from Amber Wagner in the title role.

Dudamel and the Los Angeles Philharmonic unleash the darkness of Verdi’s late masterpiece Otello upon the picnickers at the Hollywood Bowl. 

Muti unlocks the immense dramatic potential of Verdi's revolutionary score, providing a wealth of colour and detail capable of conjuring mysterious Shakespearean worlds with no need for staging.

A trusty and convincing version of the masterpiece, with a cast of well-matched singers.

Sir Bryn Terfel’s Falstaff is still a cherishable rogue as he takes on the title role in Robert Carsen’s joyous staging at the Royal Opera. 

A spirited account of Verdi's early opera in its first professional UK staging, nowhere near as “ugly” as Verdi would have had us believe. 

José Cura shines as a designer but brings surprisingly little staging expertise to his latest directorial effort.

Daisy Evans' take on Verdi's iconic tale of love stymied by the cruelty of others is characteristically innovative and insightful, while also blessed with a remarkable central performance from Anna Patalong. 

Anna Netrebko shines opposite Plácido Domingo in Harry Kupfer's uncertain new production.

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.  

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.

Unlike the conucopia of duets Verdi wrote for soprano and baritone, his music for soprano and bass is much more limited and what exists is not exactly the acme of his output.

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

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.

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.

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

In a dated production by Hans Neuenfels, conductor Giacomo Sagripanti leads a musically successful Trovatore, where Angela Meade and Anita Rachvelishvili show their vocal brilliance.

In this Verdi's popular work we find a paroxysm of affections that is consonant with Matteo Beltrami's energetic conducting.

Francesca Zambello's hip-hop graffiti staging of Aida comes to Seattle. 

On their return to Sydney, the Australian World Orchestra under Riccardo Muti offer a subdued reading of Brahms’ Symphony no. 2 and a thrilling account of Tchaikovsky’s Symphony no. 4.

The acting was patchy and the singing ranged from serviceable to laudable in this dazzling new production at the Budapest Spring Festival.