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Three major Metropolitan Opera debuts bring excitement and vocal glamour to this revival of Bartlett Sher's Rigoletto production.

A revival for Sir David McVicar's staging from last season, but this time reverting from French to the four-act Italian version, conducted by Carlo Rizzi. 

Making her debut at the Metropolitan Opera, the wife of Met GM Peter Gelb crushes any talk of nepotism at the downbeat. 

Brett Dean’s Hamlet at the Met is a worthy addition to the operatic canon, and the production is a treat. 

The Metropolitan Opera performs the original French version of Don Carlos for the first time with a distinguished ensemble of soloists, but the static production offers no new insights into the depth of Verdi's masterpiece.

For social distancing reasons, the Festival dispensed with a full staging of Wagner's epic love story, allowing singers and orchestra to share the stage in an able compromise.

John Osborn leads a very successful premiere of Peter Konwitschny's new production of Meyerbeer's Les Huguenots in Dresden

New York Philharmonic, under the strong leadership of its incoming music director, demonstrated that they can perform opera as well as symphonies in an impressive performance of Act 1 of Die Walküre.

John Relyea owns the stage as Méphistophélès in Boston Symphony’s Faust. 

A production which did not make a strong impression in Naples, despite a first rate cast. 

The Philadelphia Orchestra presented an exciting and fresh performance of Swan Lake selections and Bluebeard's Castle, led by its energetic music director Yannick Nézet-Séguin.

Fabio Luisi conducts a solidly cast Guillaume Tell with panache, Rossini's final opera returning to the Metropolitan Opera after a long absence. 

Charles Dutoit and the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra are the stars in a demanding programme of Dvořák and Bartók.

Liudmyla Monstyrska and John Relyea turn in strong performances and Plácido Domingo confirms his hallowed status, but Daniele Abbado's direction remains unappealing in this first revival.

A daring, fascinating pairing of two modern operas by Krzysztof Warlikowski in Paris. 

Haydn’s late, lofty achievement has the august quality of a masterwork, coupled with cheerfulness befitting a summer series that ends in the month of August.

A performance of Wagner’s epic Tristan und Isolde, a testimony for all-enduring love, is a welcome event anywhere in the world. 

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.

American soprano Sondra Radvanovsky is the reason to see Anna Bolena, though the production provides plenty of other reasons to stay. 

67-year-old diva Edita Gruberova presents a devastating portrayal of a desperate mother supported by a strong cast in a stark modern production.

Music Director Michael Tilson Thomas deserves credit for this excellent semi-staged version of Britten's Peter Grimes performed with the San Francisco Symphony at Davies Symphony Hall.

Yannick Nézet-Séguin kept the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra sounding especially lively and cohesive in this revival of Otto Schenk's enchanting production of Rusalka, starring Renée Fleming as the water nymph and Piotr Beczala as her lover.

Robert le diable’s 1831 opening was perhaps the most successful opera première of all time. Meyerbeer was lauded by luminaries like Chopin, Dumas, Balzac and Heinrich Heine, the opera was played in 69 cities in its first two years and spawned an entire genre of French Grand Opera.

The venerable Viennese tradition of airing dirty operatic laundry in public found an unlikely proponent this season in the form of the Theater an der Wien’s mild-mannered director Roland Geyer, who, unhappy with William Friedkin’s production of The Tales of Hoffmann in March, abruptly sacked the American director and announced he would devise a new staging himself a matter of months before the sec

One of the questions this opera poses for any director is how to link the 'tales' of Hoffmann's three lost loves together and knit them satisfactorily into the Prologue and Epilogue.

Read our review of Cesare Lievi's production of Rossini­'s Cenerentola in its 2009 broadcast from the Met Opera in New York.

Read our review of Adrian Noble's production of Macbeth by Verdi, in its 2008 HD broadcast from the Metropolitan Opera in New York.

Read our review of Robert Lepage's production of Berlioz­'s La Damnation de Faust in its 2008 roadcast from the Met Opera in New York.

Read our review of Bartlett Sher's production of Rossini­'s Il Barbiere di Siviglia in its 2007 broadcast from the Met Opera in New York.

Capitaneada por Gustavo Dudamel, esta es una representación de lujo que ningún aficionado debería perderse y una perfecta oportunidad para crear afición.

Das vorzüglich auf Barock getrimmte Orchester trägt nicht über den sehr durchwachsenen Chor und die rätselhafte Deplatzierung der Solisten hinweg.

Sous la direction de Tugan Sokhiev, l'Orchestre National du Capitole de Toulouse proposent une interprétation puissante et minutieuse de La Damnation de Faust. Au sein du plateau vocal, les Chœurs de l'institution toulousaine se distinguent.

L'Opéra de Lyon a le vent en poupe, multipliant depuis quelques années les programmations audacieuses. Lever de rideau avec un Mefistofele déroutant, mis en scène par Àlex Ollé.

La très attendue mise en scène de La flûte enchantée de Mozart au Festival d'opéra de Québec a valu un triomphe au metteur en scène Robert Lepage, qui a procédé à un véritable dépoussièrage de l'œuvre. 

Reprise magistrale de la production signée Krzysztof Warlikowski, avec John Relyea, Ekaterina Gubanova et la majestueuse Barbara Hannigan.

La Philharmonie de Paris accueillait l’Orchestre du Conservatoire supérieur de Paris encadré par l'Ensemble Intercontemporain, pour une soirée consacrée à Ligeti, Kurtag et Bartók.

Pour la première de la saison lyrique romaine, Daniele Gatti amenait l’Orchestra e Coro del Teatro dell’Opera di Roma dans un Richard Wagner épuré.

Un interesante y desigual sexteto de cantantes para la versión concierto de una de las obras menos representadas de Verdi.  

Albert Boadella queda lejos de revitalizar el Don Carlo de Verdi en esta representación de El Escorial, despejando muy levemente la consabida leyenda negra que lo rodea desde su origen y que sigue resplandeciendo. Un compacto equipo vocal salva los muebles de una representación un tanto pretenciosa.