Live, Video: Find classical music concert, opera, ballet and dance reviews | Amanda Echalaz

No hippos in tutus for The Dance of the Hours, but panto frolics abound in Stephen Madcalf's staging in the idyllic Theatre in the Woods. 

Red-blooded performances from the three principals at Covent Garden, even if there are vocal misfires along the way. 

Adès opera resists explanation, and the ambiguity of the story drives much of its compelling nature. 

Luis Buñuel's derision at the sense of entitlement of over-privileged, self-righteous prigs shines through a high quality operatic adaptation.

The Salzburg Festival audience warmly applauded Thomas Adès, Tom Cairns and all musicians for a rounded and gripping première.

A clumsily directed, poorly sung Tosca at the ROH made for a dispiriting evening. 

Chicago Lyric Opera's production of Madama Butterfly is open and airy, quiet in its theatrics, and the characters move with the grace and inevitability of shadows on the wall.

Few operas are as specific in time and place as Puccini's Tosca: the date is 17th June, 1800, shortly after the battle of Marengo (in which Napoleon Bonaparte wrested control of Northern Italy from Austria), while each of the three acts is located in a specific landmark in Rome: the church of Sant'Andrea della Valle, the Palazzo Farnese and the Castel Sant'Angelo.

Young man spurns the love of a good woman. Time passes. Man realises the error of his ways, but it is too late. It's not exactly the most taxing of plot lines, but in Eugene Onegin, Alexander Pushkin turned it into a masterpiece.

What a thrill it was to experience the recent production of Puccini's powerful opera at The Coliseum. Directed by Catherine Malfitano, herself a great Tosca, and conducted by Edward Gardner the performance gripped the packed auditorium throughout. The large orchestra responded magnificently to the maestro's direction adding considerably to the drama.

Puccini's Tosca is one of the stalwarts of the repertoire, with its soaring music and a showstopping number in each act: the evil Scarpia expounding his wicked plans to the background of the Te Deum, Tosca's Vissi d'arte awakening to the harsh world around her and Cavaradossi's lament on death row E lucevan le stelle in Act III.