Find classical music concert, opera, ballet and dance reviews | Christian Fenouillat

Cecilia Bartoli is joined by frequent collaborators Moshe Leiser and Patrice Caurier in a fun-filled Rossini farce full of Italian sunshine. Big grins all round. 

Ermonela Jaho sure likes to put herself (and us) through the emotional wringer on Covent Garden's stage. This time, London finally got to see her as another tragic Puccini heroine: Madama Butterfly.

For the latest revival of Moshe Leiser and Patrice Caurier's candy-striped production, the Royal Opera serves up the operatic equivalent of stodgy semolina.

Verdi's take on the Joan of Arc story may be thin on drama, but outstanding playing from Riccardo Chailly and the La Scala orchestra and top notch singing from Netrebko, Meli and Álvarez make this a wonderful Verdian evening.

Justina Gringyte is a fabulous Carmen in Scottish Opera's dark take on this most tuneful of operas. Large choruses, including children with cigarettes, and a strong supporting cast make this an enjoyable show.

A recent production of Vincenzo Bellini’s Norma starred Cecilia Bartoli, the great mezzo who lives close by, and whom the Zürcher like to claim as one of their own.

Aleksandra Kurzak delivers a top drawer performance as Fiorilla, leading a star-studded cast as Evelino Pidò gives us a lesson in how to conduct Rossini in the latest revival of Il turco in Italia.

Kristine Opolais offers a nuanced, moving Cio-Cio-San in a solid revival of Moshe Leiser and Patrice Caurier’s sepia and cream production of Madama Butterfly at the Royal Opera.

Not the Barbiere you might have been expecting if you hadn't paid attention to the small print at the Theater an der Wien... 

The Welsh National Opera took to the Hippodrome stage for the Bristol leg of their UK tour ofCarmen. This was a revival of Welsh National Opera’s production in the late 1990s, co-produced with Scottish Opera.

Elder led a performance that twinkled with Rossinian wit, while Serena Malfi left you clamouring for a swift return to Bow Street.

Shadow puppet serpents and policemen in tutus: Moshe Leiser and Patrice Caurier's production of Die Zauberflöte is graced with a strong cast. 

Verdi’s Otello opens with a fierce storm raging over Cyprus. In Rossini’s version, composed 71 years earlier in 1816, the composer eschewed the Cypriot setting entirely and the storm doesn’t take place until Act III, although last night a mighty crack of thunder resounded over the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées as the audience filed into the opera house. 

Moshe Leiser und Patrice Cauriers Inszenierung ist repertoiretauglicher als die Polizei erlaubt, die in dieser Inszenierung mit Tutu statt mit Tatütata auftritt.

Mit René Jacobs und dem Regieduo Moshe Leiser/Patrice Caurier haben sich nun gleich drei Prinzen gefunden, die  Händels Oper  erfolgreich aus dem Dornröschenschlaf holen.

On ne peut demeurer indifférent à cette Norma, qui a l’immense mérite d’innover et ce faisant, de démontrer que l’opéra est bel et bien un art vivant.

Plongée dans cette nouvelle production nantaise, entre l'interphone et le réverbère, portée par de jeunes chanteurs convaincants. 

Cecilia Bartoli, I Barocchisti et les enfants terribles de mise en scène : Patrice Caurier et Moshe Leiser donnent à voir et à entendre une production d'anthologie de Norma à l'Opéra de Monte-Carlo. 

Wild, grob und grausam - bei der diesjährigen Eröffnung der Pfingstfestspiele wird Glucks Iphigénie en Tauride in eine kalte Gegenwart versetzt und ein ungeschönter Blick auf menschliche Abgründe geworfen. Umso strahlender tritt dabei einmal wieder die musikalische Qualität der Festspiele und allen voran Cecilia Bartoli in den Vordergrund.