Live, Video: Find classical music concert, opera, ballet and dance reviews | Cordelia Chisholm

Top notch singing, judicious pruning and production which prioritises human drama over camp spectacle make for an illuminating take on Handel's most frequently staged opera.

A double bill of French operettas shows Guildhall students to advantage as well as providing an introduction to Viardot that's well worth the trip.

Mary Miller bows out after ten years at the helm of Bergen National Opera with a defiant account of Mozart’s final opera. 

James Conway's production for English Touring Opera returns in a trimmed-down, single-evening guise. 

A terrifically strong cast gives a fine rendition of two lesser heard operas: Giordano's Mala vita Leoni's L'oracolo.

Opera Holland Park starts its 2018 season with a bang (and a cough), offering a splendid new production of La traviata. Lauren Fagan is a sensational Violetta, but the production is a real company effort and achievement.

Conway's decision to render Handel's epic in its entirety was let down by a static staging and unnecessary repeats that masked the hidden gem-like arias.

A searing examination of love in a time war is to be found in a new production and new edition of Rameau's greatest work.

An intriguing performance of a wonderful, psychological opera that needs to be heard much more frequently this side of the Atlantic.

Tchaikovsky's High Gothic opera about gambling obsessions is worth seeing for a first class staging, albeit with a mixed musical performance.

The Guildhall School of Music and Drama is firing on all cylinders with this double bill of rare surrealist operas by Martinů.

The Royal Conservatoire of Scotland’s opera singers and chamber orchestra are on top form with a moving and thoughtful production of Britten’s Owen Wingrave.

A Midsummer Night's Dream meets Saturday Night Fever in this glamourous, heady, glitter-strewn performance at Trinity Laban, directed by Olivia Fuchs. 

James MacMillan has honed his first opera Inés de Castro into an unmissable evening:  unspeakably gory but utterly thrilling.

A perfect opera for students? Young singers and a stylish production of Le nozze di Figaro strike the balance between serious and comic.