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Violetta Valéry was Armenian soprano Hrachuhí Bassénz, who made a strong impression on the audience, certainly by the end.

When it comes to the title role, Bartlett Sher's non-interventionist production misses the core of the character. 

The audience for The Met's first performance of La fanciulla del West this season arrived loaded for bear. Not only were they disappointed that Jonas Kaufmann was not singing (he's slated for shows starting 17th October), but their disappointment was heightened by the fact that tenor Yusif Eyvazov was singing.

The Royal Opera's revival of Phyllida Lloyd's production is marked by two outstanding Verdian singers and a superb rendering of the score from Pappano and the ROH Orchestra.

A decision to offer traditional stagings for standard repertoire may be a dangerous path to tread for the Met's future.

Gun-Brit Barkmin’s Salome was neither sexy, salacious, psycho-erotic nor particularly well sung.

After all the speculation, Jonas Kaufmann made his role debut as Otello at The Royal Opera – an impressive, if not unqualified, success. 

The gambling tables and neon lights of Las Vegas might not be the images which immediately enter your head when you think of Verdi’s Rigoletto, but bold art is often created and progressed by the pushing of boundaries and by challenging audiences to reimagine the familiar.

Elijah Moshinsky’s 15-year old production of Verdi’s Nabucco has returned to the Met, ostensibly as a vehicle for Placido Domingo.

The Met revived Jurgen Flimm's modern production of Salome, with Patricia Racette making a successfu last minute role debut in the title role.

Francesco Meli asserts his credentials as one of the top tenors singing Manrico; David Bösch's staging lacks attention to detail.

Little mark of Shakespeare's drama or Verdi's passion behind Bartlett Sher's exsanguinated, highly-stylized Otello for The Metropolitan Opera.

The Lyric Opera put together the best-sounding première of the year so far, in which singers, chorus and the orchestra all began with astonishing confidence and only improved from there.

Bartlett Sher’s new production of Verdi's Otello opens the Metropolitan Opera's season in a staging dominated by multimedia sets.

Six years after its contested 2009 world première at the Metropolitan Opera, Luc Bondy's disputed production of Giacomo Puccini's Tosca bowed its third Teatro alla Scala staging here on Monday night.

Verdi’s Aida has been performed over 1,000 times at the Metropolitan Opera, making it the most commonly revived work after Puccini’s La bohème. Because Aida is so regularly programmed, I usually walk rather than run to see this opera.

A triumphant opening night was crowned by superb performances from Željko Lučić and Anna Netrebko as Macbeth and his Lady. But why the negative audience reaction to Adrian Noble's intelligent production? 

A modern, simple production of Simon Boccanegra at Dresden's Semperoper, doesn’t interfere with the action.  

Andrea Chénier can seem more a series of scenes than a dramatic whole and it relies on exciting, charismatic luminaries to hold it together and keep the interest high. This revival of Nicolas Joël’s staging is a noble effort, but disappoints.

OK, opera fans: anyone out there tired of being confronted with provocative modern interpretations of beloved operas? If so, this Tosca production is just what the doctor ordered.Set, costume and direction all work together in this classic 1958 production to create the impression of Puccini’s turn-of-the-century masterpiece as it was originally intended.

Read our review of Michael Mayer's production of Verdi's Rigoletto in its 2013 broadcast from the Met Opera in New York.

Verdi’s Rigoletto is possessed of a truly tragic plot. A physically disabled jester keeps his innocent daughter locked up except for weekly church visits, a situation which she only lightly resists. Rigoletto believes a curse is to blame for his daughter being killed, although she only dies as a substitute for the man Rigoletto himself has arranged to be assassinated.

The first opera of the season at La Scala is an event of huge cultural significance in Italy, so it raised some hackles when, for Giuseppe Verdi’s centenary year, the management passed over Verdi in favour of Wagner’s Lohengrin. But even Italians disappointed by the insult to their culture found it impossible to quarrel with the quality of the singing talent on show.

The Metropolitan Opera’s Live in HD simulcasts to movie theaters all over the world have been one of the biggest stories in the opera world in recent years and an undoubted hit with opera fans. Whether the program’s audience-building potential is commensurate with its box office hauls, however, is still a matter of debate.

The San Francisco Opera, one of the big American houses that has exhibited commendable fiscal resourcefulness while maintaining its artistic standards, selected a conservative opener for its 90th season with a revival of its de Chirico-inspired production of Rigoletto.

A mid-19th-century Italian opera with the sound of the human voice front-and-center, and seemingly dependent on the trappings of the theater.

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

Die Münchner Inszenierung des Andrea Chénier überzeugt mir großen Bildern, großartiger Musik und einer herausragenden Anja Harteros.

Anja Harteros brille dans le rôle de Leonora et Brian Jagde convainc en Alvaro, dans une production où la mise en scène et la direction musicale montrent leurs limites.

L'inégale Tosca de Pierre Audi est de retour à l'Opéra de Paris. Portée par un duo remarquable et un orchestre formidablement mené par Dan Ettinger.

Cantatrices en tête, un casting vocal prestigieux (Radvanovsky, Rachvelishvili, Alvarez, Lucic) assure le succès du célèbre opéra de Giuseppe Verdi. La mise en scène d'Alex Ollé déçoit.

Traditionell inszeniert und hervorragend besetzt wurde Puccinis Oper an der Met.

Die Münchner Tosca zog ihren Reiz aus dem exzellenten Sängeraufgebot und dem packenden Dirigat von Daniele Callegari. Die Münchner Inszenierung von Luc Bondy blieb unterm Strich sehr konventionell.

Mise en abyme du drame qui conduira Rigoletto à vivre errant comme un défunt, cette production mise en scène par Claus Guth et portée par une distribution vocale très juste s'avère tout aussi saissisante qu'étonnantament lumineuse dans ce qu'elle révèle pourtant de plus sombre des affects humains.

Željko Lučić als Gast zu Haus: Wieder singt er eine hinreißende Partie an der Oper Frankfurt.

L'Opéra National de Paris clôture sa Trilogie Populaire de Verdi avec une Traviata théâtralement bien pauvre. 

In Frankfurt war er mit Puccinis Il trittico dank einer musikalisch ausgefeilten und szenisch-psychologisch stimmigen Präsentation garantiert.