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Julia Burbach's new production lacks poetry in spite of an admirable cast led by Samuel Dale Johnson in the title role. 

If you have dismissed this opera as overstuffed kitsch in the past, you might want to take a look at this production. It could well change your mind.

Deutsche Oper Berlin’s new production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream is a delightful and whimsical homage to Britten’s masterpiece. The orchestra, soloists and children’s chorus performed with energy and charm under the baton of Donald Runnicles.

Deutsche Oper Berlin's revival of Manon Lescaut achieves a rare theatrical success; a witty and visually stunning production combined with thrilling music making in the pit with Sir Simon Rattle leading the orchestra and singers with emotional urgency.

Scottish Opera brings opera to the people on a huge scale in a promenade production of Pagliacci.  

Director Oliver Mears turns Scottish Opera’s Eugene Onegin into a memory play, with fine singing from a strong cast starring Natalya Romaniv as a thrilling Tatyana.  

After its Christmas break, Cavalleria rusticana and Pagliacci return to the Royal Opera in Daminano Michieletto's arresting production. 

Inventive comedy and excellent musicality bring Sir Thomas Allen’s traditional production back to life.

A disappointing staging for the Jette Parker Young Artists' annual showcase at the Royal Opera House. 

Johan Reuter leads an all star cast in a revelatory performance of George Enescu's masterpiece, aided by spectacular La Fura dels Baus staging.

Thomas Adès, in the first concert of his mini Composer Focus with the LSO, conducted three of his own works and one by Brahms at the Barbican.

Poor intelligibility and lack of pace in the music or acting make L'Étoile into a disappointingly flat evening.

For anyone seeing Carmen for the first time, this Royal Opera revival will have been a more than satisfactory evening. Old hands hoping to see something extra will find it in Hymel's Don José and Car's Micaëla, but not elsewhere.

Jane Archibald and Ruxandra Donose provide a compelling prologue to Ariadne auf Naxos, while Karita Mattila's majestic performance lights up the opera seria second half.

School’s out for summer and with it the opportunity for the Royal Opera’s Jette Parker Young Artists to showcase their talents in the end of term main stage performance. 

Sadly, Damiano Michieletto and Antonio Pappano's production is more likely to be remembered for its failings – the awful rape scene, its dullness, plus a list of annoying details too long to mention – than for its musical excellence. It’s worth seeing to get a feel of both.

Any revival of La traviata stands or falls by its principals and their ability to inhabit the roles rather than merely sing them prettily. A good revival director helps. 

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.

Figaro rules the roost on the main stage this autumn, but buried in the Nibelheim of the Linbury Studio, Rossini'ss early comedy La scala di seta receives its first ever production by the Royal Opera.