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Rafael Payare leads a fevered account of desire, damnation and sonic grandeur, ably supported by Karen Cargill and Andrew Staples. 

David Pountney's vernacular translation and Ruth Knight's vivid staging lent a thrilling immediacy to Shostakovich's chilling opera.

Evgeny Titov's new production is heavy on the jokes and light in substance, but delights anyway thanks to its high-class cast. 

Director Milos Rau, composer Hèctor Parra and librettist Fiston Mwanza Mujila put the operatic spotlight on the fight for justice after a mining disaster in the DRC, with mixed results.

When done as well as this, a "concert staging" is not oxymoronic, but a precise term for a valuable mode of presentation.

Femi Elufowju's new staging of Verdi's classic is innovative, provocative and closely connected with the modern world.

Kate Lindsey’s voice is luminous, effortlessly regulated in every register, and intertwined magically with the gleaming soprano of Slávka Zámečníková, a very special new jewel in the Staatsoper ensemble who is every inch a star.

It is all very easy on the eyes, although pondering what it is all supposed to mean is a recipe for a migraine.

A terrific cast takes on the latest revival of Kasper Holten’s video-infused staging of Mozart’s opera buffa.

The transfer of last year's Clemenza di Tito from Salzburg delights and irritates in equal measure.

Johan Reuter is gripping in Krzysztof Warlikowski's powerful vision of the universal, timeless horrors of prison, but visual clutter distracts from Janáček’s music.

Rattle conducts Janáček's glorious score with unerring skill and barely concealed adoration, but is let down by his regular collaborator's muddy vision. 

The London Philharmonic’s concert performance of Enescu’s Oedipe proves an extravagant but triumphant way to launch the orchestra’s new Royal Festival Hall season.

Mozart was supposed to be the composer of La clemenza di Tito but it was really a critical edition of Metastasio’s opus by Teodor Currentzis.

Vladimir Jurowski and the LPO gave a stunning performance of Enescu’s operatic masterpiece, despite a dramatically limp concert staging.

Clarity and mounting horror in the orchestra pit, the full truth and ugliness of the human condition onstage. Dutch National Opera’s new production of Wozzeck is stomach-churning for all the right reasons.

William Kentridge's Lulu for ENO is easier to admire than it is to love. But if you want to be challenged dramatically, this is the opera to do it.

Searing performances from a mixed cast, superb choir and orchestra; all brilliantly conducted by Esa-Pekka Salonen.

Anthony McDonald’s Rusalka looks and sounds wonderful in a traditionally told production, with Anne Sophie Duprels returning to the role.

Great opera at the Los Angeles Philharmonic as Esa-Pekka Salonen conducted Debussy’s Pelléas et Mélisande as part of the City of Light, a retrospective that examines works seen in Paris during the first half of the 20th century. 

A double bill of Tchaikovsky's Iolanta and Stravinsky's Perséphone fares strongly in Aix-en-Provence. 

Paul Groves, Sir Willard White and Ruxandra Donose are the top-flight principals, with excellent support from the Cleveland Orchestra Chorus.

From its stunningly filmic opening to its faux-Golgotha finale, the Royal Opera House’s new production of Weill’s Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny demands our attention. 

Bartók's Duke Bluebeard’s Castle makes for an enthralling evening, both in its depth of psychology, its amazing score and in the RPO’s colour filled performance, with stand-ins Sir Willard White and Ildikó Komlósi in fine voice.

“He’s not an opera director. He’s a very naughty boy!” Three years after his surreal Damnation of Faust, Terry Gilliam tackles more Berlioz for English National Opera in the shape of Benvenuto Cellini, striking gold again.

With this new production of Gluck's Alceste in Madrid, Krzysztof Warlikowski uses a well known popular icon to drag the audience into a two-way process of dramatic exploration.

'First impressions are often the truest', wrote Hazlitt. I was immediately struck by the amount of space on the Usher Hall stage, recently filled by so many large symphony orchestras. The Scottish Chamber Orchestra had plenty of space, a feature which was soon to be borne out in the music.

Several audience members didn't bother to return after the interval, and there were a few walkouts even before that. It seems Christopher Alden's darkly brilliant new production isn't for everybody. But those of us who stuck it out for the full three hours were rewarded with a reminder that beneath the surface of the Shakespeare-based fairy fable lurk some disquieting truths.

"Intermezzo" has submitted an excellent and comprehensive review of the opening night of this classy new production, but I was so shocked to hear booing from neighbouring seats that perhaps I might be permitted to add this view from a relative opera novice? I've not seen this opera before, or even the Shakespeare play, so although I had nothing to compare it with, I also had nothing to miss in th

Fidelio, Beethoven's only opera, is on the most universal of themes: the oppression of the innocent by the powerful and the virtue of the struggle for a loved one. It could be set at any time in any place, from Ancient Rome or China to our modern world.

Some in the audience stormed to their feet at curtain call with exuberant bravos for the cast and conductor. Others walked out at the first intermission. “A monumental success,” one claimed. “The worst opera I’ve ever seen,” another said leaving the theater.

An der Bayerischen Staatsoper brilliert ein hochkarätiges Mozart-Ensemble in einem so enttäuschenden, wie trostlosem Regiekonzept.

Evgeny Titovs Inszenierung und Stefano Montanaris energiegeladenes Dirigat machen große Lust, sich in Mozarts oft gespielte Oper wieder zu vertiefen.

Si la direction musicale de Paolo Carignani, l'orchestre et les chœurs impressionnent, l'ensemble de la production est plombé par une mise en scène caricaturale, tandis que la distribution laisse une impression mitigée.

La soprano américaine subjugue dans le rôle-titre, au sein d'une nouvelle production (mise en scène par Barbara Wysocka et dirigée par Elena Schwarz) qui sert efficacement l'œuvre intense de Janáček.

Les Contes d’Hoffmann reviennent à La Monnaie. Si la mise en scène hollywoodienne de Krzysztof Warlikowski montre ses limites, l'interprétation musicale n'appelle que des éloges.

La production de l'année pour l'Opéra de Lyon ! Warlikowski livre une interprétation particulièrement efficace du chef-d'œuvre de Janáček, entre parabole poétique et réalisme cru.

Créé il y a dix ans à Vienne, triomphe au Festival d’Aix qui a suivi, De la maison des morts, dans la mise en scène de Patrice Chéreau, est enfin donné sur la scène de Bastille, ici encore sous l’impulsion bienveillante de Stéphane Lissner.

Nicht alles passte in dieser La clemenza di Tito im Konzerthaus Dortmund; unbestritten anregend aber waren die dramatischen Effekte, vor allem das Auskosten des Leisen, der Milde, der Stille.

Lange hat man Mozart in Salzburg nicht mehr so mitreißend erlebt. Mit dem neuen Titus gelingt Neo-Intendant Markus Hinterhäuser ein Coup, der erhoffen lässt, dass sich Salzburg einer neuen goldenen Ära entgegenbewegt.

Si le Teatro all’Opera de Rome a souvent fait preuve de conformisme par le passé, l’audace des productions de la saison 2016/2017 lui redonne un nouveau souffle. Après une Maria Stuarda magnifique c’est au tour de Lulu, chef-d’œuvre d’Alban Berg qui n’avait pas été donné à Rome depuis 1968, d’occuper la scène du Teatro dell’Opera. 

Une bien belle découverte avec ce « Giasone » de Cavalli sous la baguette de Leonardo Garcia Alarcon : un casting dominé par les voix de la Medea de Kristina Hammarström  et l’Isifile de Fristina Mkhitaryan, porté par la mise en scène piquante de Serena Sinigaglia, et mis en valeur par les fastes de la Capella Mediterranea. 

L’Indian Queen de Purcell aura ravi à Genève les auditeurs d’un drame baroque tellement moderne. Les héros de cette fresque amoureuse malheureuse auront suscité bien des émotions qui perdureront longtemps tant leur implication fut totale. Bravo ! 

S’il fallait choisir parmi toutes les belles idées de mise en scène de ce très réussi Oedipus Rex, on s’accorderait sans doute sur celle-ci : la primauté incontestée de l’esthétique et des intentions de Stravinski.

Iolenta et Perséphone sublimées : vibrant hommage à la Lumière par l'Opéra de Lyon.