Live, Video: Find classical music concert, opera, ballet and dance reviews | Alistair Sutherland

Some good singing performances can't overcome a dated feeling of Gilbert's humour: the evening improves as the storm clouds gather.

Natascha Metherell relocates the action to an Italian film studio of the 1950s, which looks great but brings problems. 

A tight production from Martin Lloyd-Evans together with a strong cast and loving treatment from conductor Matthew Kofi Waldren made a strong case for more regular performances of this neglected gem.

Opera Holland Park give us a broad span of human joys and tragedies in an excellently staged and acted rendering of Puccini's Il trittico.

Opera Loki's stylish Victorian Rigoletto, one piano accompaniment and much grease-paint later, is an enjoyable and moving evening, though it doesn't quite get to the heart of Verdi's dark masterpiece. 

Unlike its première, disaster is averted in Opera Holland Park's Il barbiere di Siviglia, where a solidly traditional production is lit up by some splendid vocal performances. 

Donizetti’s melodramma giocoso in two acts, L’elisir d’amore, is a light-hearted tale of love overcoming all obstacles, with the help of a little “love potion”.