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Underwhelming performances, all too tempestuous conducting and an aesthetically pleasing but puzzling production fail to thrill.

The big man in the fat suit rules the show, briging vigour and joie de vivre to Hungarian State Opera's Falstaff.

Miklós Szinetár's production for Hungarian State Opera is easy on the eye, but perhaps a little too beautiful for its subject matter.

Hungarian State Opera mount a successful première of Thomas Adès's take on Shakespeare, with the show stolen by Laure Meloy's Ariel.

Inadequate production and mixed performances characterize the Hungarian State Opera's new Trovatore.

Solid singing proves to be the main attraction of an ineffective new staging of Die Walküre at the Hungarian State Opera.

Known for her powerful interpretations of the blockbuster Italian mezzo roles, the great Hungarian diva Ildikó Komlósi dominates the new production of Aida in Budapest.

Hungarian composer Dohnányi's fourth and last opera is a comic delight, especially in the hands of the team at the Budapest Opera. 

Young bohemians give Puccini’s opera the refreshing radiance of youth. 

In a reconstruction of Jean-Pierre Ponnelle’s production for the world première of Reimann’s soul-pummelling Lear, the staging stands the test of time, but the cast and orchestra leave the biggest impression.

Excitingly conducted and largely well-sung, this sumptuous but unfussy Turandot should please both traditionalist and adventurous operagoers.  

Erwin Schrott seduces the Budapest audience with smiles, but Zerlina steals the show in Budapest. 

Rarely performed, Boito’s Mefistofele is an audacious, spectacular opera, needing an audacious, spectacular staging to do it justice. That’s exactly what it gets in Balázs Kovalik’s production for Hungarian State Opera.

Any director taking on Weber’s Der Freischütz faces big challenges. Sándor Zsóter’s production for the Hungarian State Opera takes risks, with very mixed results.

The devil may not get all the best tunes in Gounod’s Faust, but Gábor Bretz certainly stole the show in this new production at Hungarian State Opera.