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The Met brought back its traditional staging of Tannhäuser with remarkable performances by the Orchestra, Chorus and soloists, with two outstanding male singers.

Frank Castorf's Soviet-era farm-setting does not obtrude on the emotional core of Wagner's Die Walküre, with excellent performances from Johan Botha, Anja Kampe and Claudia Mahnke, with superlative playing from the Festival Orchestra.

Amber Wagner sings Elisabeth with a deepened command and an access to a horizon of sound that make it seem as though her throat had found six more inches of release. It’s a phenomenal performance.

James Levine led a solid and at times excellent performance of Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg in Otto Schenk's traditional production that somehow lacked sparkle and excitement.

Kirill Petrenko starts Die Walküre with a flourish as Frank Castorf’s staging takes us back to the Baku oilfields in late tsarist Russia.

A revival of the new production of Die Frau ohne Schatten at the Munich Opera Festival brings back four of the principals in a brilliantly sung performance of Richard Strauss' masterpiece.

Semyon Bychkov gave a reading of such clarity and quality that everything seemed obvious. In his hands, the orchestra was a precision instrument, and for Strauss fans, whether or not you like Claus Guth's staging, this production is a must-see.

Amid red carpets and canapés, the Lyric Opera’s 2013/14 season opened on Saturday night with a work that perfectly suited the storm gathering above as ball-gowned luminaries swept into the hall: Verdi’s Otello, that late masterpiece of mood and terraced intensities.

On Friday, a new co-production of Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg opened at the Lyric. The only comedy among Wagner’s mature music dramas, its sound is very much like that of the better-known tragedies – brassy, overfull, with a core of strings teetering at vibrato’s edge.

The devil, they say, has all the best lines. In yesterday's performance of Verdi's Otello at the Met, the villain was simply sensational. Falk Struckmann's delivery of Jago's Credo in un Dio crudel (“I believe in a cruel God”) was a masterpiece of nihilism, combining power and richness of voice with a tone of pure, matter of fact evil.

Read our review of Renée Fleming's production of Verdi­'s Otello in its 2012 broadcast from the Met Opera in New York.

This opening concert to Vienna OsterKlang festival was a reproduction of sorts: on 5th April 1803 a slate of Beethoven works including the first and second symphonies, the third piano concerto and the oratorio Christus am Ölberge was performed in this very theatre.

My last opera of the year was also my first Wagner: a new Covent Garden production of Tannhäuser, directed by Tim Albery and conducted by Semyon Bychkov.First things first: Bychkov was magnificent.

Read our review of Gianni Quaranta's production of Verdi­'s Aida in its 2009 broadcast from the Met Opera in New York.

Mit einer musikalisch gradiosen Aufführung der Walküre und prägnant-wirkungsvollen Projektionen wurde in Budapest der Ring-Zyklus von Adam Fischer fortgesetzt.