Live, Video: Find classical music concert, opera, ballet and dance reviews | Angela Brower

A pared back production is required in these Covid times: as little physical contact as possible, no chorus on stage, and tempi brisk and alert to keep the audience in the house for as short a time as possible. 

The Met revives Robert Carsen's updated production of Der Rosenkavalier with a strong cast led by Camilla Nylund.  Sir Simon Rattle led the Met Orchestra in an inspired and detailed reading of the score.

Dutch National Opera's superbly sang Così fan tutte is transposed into a teenager summer crush story.

While Bellini’s two-act opera Norma underscores the religious wars between the ancient Druids and Romans, it also highlights an emotive personal conflict that is veiled in deceit and cultural discrepancy.

Lise Davidsen and Sabine Devieilhe produce soprano heaven in their contrasting vocal styles. Katie Mitchell’s staging feels disappointingly familiar.

Kirill Petrenko’s second night at Carnegie Hall packed a punch as the orchestra of the Bayerische Staatsoper delved deep into Strauss’ score, supporting an impressive cast of singers.

Marble and solitude: Willy Decker's view of La clemenza di Tito is revived with a strong cast at L'Opéra de Paris.

Offenbach's vivid setting of ETA Hoffmann's fantastic tales gets an enjoyable outing, with Spyres, Testé and Pudova the undoubted stars of the show.

A superlative cast and perceptive staging make for a gripping revival of Strauss’s Ariadne auf Naxos at the Glyndebourne Festival.

Fine singing from the quartet of lovers isn't enough to prevent Bychkov's slow tempi and Gloger's earnest direction from turning Così into a very long evening.

In Mozart's The Marriage of Figaro, Figaro and his bride-to-(maybe)-be Susannah share their ups and downs, but in San Francisco Opera's revival production directed by Robin Guarino, it was evident they would be a veritable match made in heaven.

Both the staging and the music of the Bayerische Staatsoper's Traviata disappoint.

An opening night of Così fan tutte in Munich in which Gaëlle Arquez and Marina Rebeka as the two sisters take the honours. 

The Bayerische Staatsoper's production of Hänsel und Gretel is successful both musically and dramatically, but don't come expecting a charming fairy tale: This eerie staging is not for the very young or the faint of heart.

The Bayerische Staatsoper's La clemenza di Tito features a bold staging, a talented cast of singer-actors, and a great orchestra. Time, place, and genders are all ambiguous, but none of that gets in the way of the story.

Pale ghostly faces, flowers in heaven and a spell binding Christian Gerhaher: Munich celebrates Monteverdi's Orfeo.

The return of Offenbach’s Les Contes d’Hoffmann to the stage of San Francisco Opera on Wednesday night was a welcome and long overdue event.

Although written many years before Rossini's The Barber of Seville, the story of The Marriage of Figaro is in fact the sequel to that of the later opera. This farcical masterpiece of the opera buffa style was the first of three operas Mozart worked on with the Italian librettist Lorenzo da Ponte and was a risky undertaking.

For its 40th anniversary, the Hong Kong Arts Festival chose Mozart’s Così fan tutte as its main opera offering. Whatever you may call it – opera buffa, comedy of manners, or “dramma giocoso” – Mozart’s lovely music makes Così fan tutte wonderful entertainment. That’s what the Bavarian State Opera delivered on Sunday afternoon to commemorate this important milestone of the Festival.

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.

Ivan Alexandre y Marc Minkowski hermanan tres obras del combo compositor-libretista en una única dimensión, con más aciertos que fallos, presentando una propuesta fresca y viviente.

Dieter Dorns 1997er Inszenierung bietet gute Unterhaltung, kann aber mit dem Starensemble um Diana Damrau nicht mithalten.

Die Festspiele starten mit Cosi fan tutte den diesjährigen Mozartmarathon und zeigen, dass man in Salzburg eben weiß, wie man Mozart spielt.

Ein arkadischer Abend im Wiener Konzerthaus mit Les Arts Florissants unter William Christie.

Jürgen Roses Regiekonzept für die Bayerische Staatsoper polarisierte bereits bei der Premiere vor zehn Jahren, doch eine bemerkenswerte Norma lässt alles andere vergessen.

Matthew Polenzani zeigt an der Bayerischen Staatsoper einen vielschichtigen und abgründigen Werther, der den Zuschauer bis an den äußersten Rand der Verzweiflung führt.

Trotz ihres Alters überwältigt Herbert Wernickes Inszenierung bis heute mit gewaltiger Bildsprache, doch gerade reduziertes Bühnenbild bedarf umso feinerer Personenregie.

Rolando Villazón bricht nach einer schwachen Leistung seine Vorstellung ab und übergibt an Arturo Chacón-Cruz. Dass die Aufführung an der Münchener Staatsoper dennoch gelingt, liegt vor allem an der einfallsreichen Inszenierung.

Noch ehe die Lichter der bayerischen Staatsoper komplett erloschen sind, knallt es. Man entwischt dem zur Zeit nicht sehr winterlichen München und findet sich in der Hitze Südspaniens wieder. Klammheimlich hatte sich Dirigent Omer Meir Wellber ans Pult geschlichen und das munter plaudernde Publikum mit der furiosen Ouvertüre zu Carmen regelrecht zusammenzucken lassen.