Live, Video: Find classical music concert, opera, ballet and dance reviews | Christopher Diffey

A modern Mahagonny rises and falls in Mannheim, brought to life by a great cast of singer-actors and a conductor (Benjamin Reiners) and orchestra who celebrate Weill's catchy score.

The London Mozart Players and a talented company of singers presented a special chance to hear a rare, unfinished Mozart opera in an even rarer guise. 

Richard Jones creates forceful theatre by staging Ariodante as a tale of shaming and abuse. Andrea Marcon conducts an accomplished cast and the first-class Concerto Köln.

Fine soprano performances from Ruth Jenkins-Róbertsson and Victoria Simmonds can't save Ambroise Thomas's inanimate object of a plot. Thank goodness Wagner saved us from more of the same. 

A Madama Butterfly from beyond the grave? What would Julia Burbach's concept add to the familiar thread of Puccini's opera? 

Producing one of the most well-known and popular operas in a fresh way on a limited budget is a challenge for anyone. Longborough Festival Opera show how it can be done. 

Swanhunter is a fine retelling of a wonderful yarn, and this rendering of it contains a great deal to enjoy for an audience of all ages, albeit marred by inconsistent intelligibity.

A great number of works from the bel canto era and before have not found their way into the current operatic repertoire, generally for good reason: many are flawed, dated or just not particularly distinguished. Garsington Opera have just proved to us that Rossini’s Maometto Secondo is not one of those.

Scottish Opera and Northern Ireland Opera's new version of Offenbach's Orpheus in the Underworld has been touring Scotalnd and Northern Ireland: it's now arrived in London for a short run at the Young Vic in London, in its 150-seater Maria hall alongside the main theatre.

Last night at North London’s Gatehouse theatre saw the Merry Opera Company perform La Belle Hélène, Offenbach’s Trojan War parody of Grand Opera, translated/re-worked by Kit Hesketh-Harvey and enticingly re-labelled Troy Boy. Hesketh-Harvey is best known as half of the cabaret duo Kit and the Widow, but has also been a regular translator of opera for the ENO and others.

In Mannheim wurde Franz Schrekers selten gespielte Oper temporeich, bunt und mit Witz unterhaltsam auf die Bühne gebracht. Störend war nur die penetrante Überschreibung mit dem Problem des belgischen Kolonialismus, was für die Interpretation des Stücks wenig hergibt.

Der Mannheimer Monteverdi-Zyklus beginnt mit einem fulminanten Feuerwerk, das man gesehen haben muss.

Nikolai Schukoff und Michael Schade sind am Festlichen Opernabend zu Gast und retten eine verstaubte Inszenierung aus den 1970er Jahren.

Vor der Kulisse des schottischen Hochlandes gelingt ein morbides Panorama, das als psychologische Studie zwischen schwarzen Raben und blutdurchtränkten Bettlaken zu einem wahnsinnigen Opernabend gerät.

Unter einem Macht und Ohnmacht evozierenden Orchesterklang gelingt dem Schweizer Regisseur Roger Vontobel eine Gesellschaftsanalyse, die in ihrer feinsinnigen Bildwelt aktueller scheint denn je. 

In der Wiederaufnahme von Ingo Kerkhofs Idomeneo wird Generationenkonflikt zwischen dem totgesagten Vater Idomeneo und seinem Sohn Idamante zur Staatskrise.