Live, Video: Find classical music concert, opera, ballet and dance reviews | Elena Maximova

Damiano Michieletto directs a slick and frequently hilarious staging of Prokofiev's comic opera Betrothal in a Monastery. 

Valery Gergiev finally turns up to conduct an electrifying evening, crowned by Asmik Grigorian's full throttle performance as Liza. 

The Russian soprano revived her Day and Night programme for The Met Stars Live in Concert series with a recital from the Spanish Riding School in Vienna.

The young soprano Lise Davidsen scored a successful debut at the Met, with impressive support by conductor Vasily Petrenko, also making a debut, led a memorable revival of Pique Dame. 

This year’s revival of Andreas Homoki's production features excellent principals, choruses, and sublime orchestration under Fabio Luisi’s seasoned baton. The staging takes far fewer accolades.

Nadine Sierra's Gilda is the highlight of Michael Sher's polished production, which doesn't quite tug at the heartstrings.

The real triumph of Michael Fabiano's role debut as Werther lay in controlling the bold intensity of his voice in favour of a sweet and lower-key level of passion – a match for Massenet's frequent choice of the cello.

Massanet’s Don Quichotte is mounted by Opera Australia, in a production which creaks but is held together by fine singing from Ferruccio Furlanetto and Warwick Fyfe.

The Temple of Opera has opened its doors to operetta. For the first time the Teatro alla Scala is staging Johann Strauss' Die Fledermaus.

High intensity girl power for a complex task: Simone Young shines in the pit, Karoline Gruber’s staging convinces with expertise and attention to detail.

Semyon Bychkov turned in a magisterial account of Mussorgsky's rugged score, aided and abetted by some strong vocal performances.

The evening was dominated by Anna Netrebko, who reprised the role of Tatiana with fresh insights and vocal charisma.  Robin Ticciati led the Met Orchestra to probe a new depth of the score.

Vienna State Opera's traditional production of Carmen managed to create an evening of both sumptious music and exciting drama on stage.

This new production of Massenet’s Werther in Tokyo suffered multiple personnel changes even before it opened... 

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.

Great singing and acting from the Met's Tales of Hoffmann second cast. 

Tchaikovsky’s Eugene Onegin is one of the most beautiful scores in the operatic repertoire, and I don’t blame people who come to it looking forward to immersing themselves in the warm bath of the familiar story and music.

Anna Netrebko singt ihr Rollendebüt als Lisa – wie so oft – auf allerhöchstem Niveau.

Una Dama de picas surrealista y cinematográfica triunfa en Les Arts. 

Beau succès pour cette reprise de La Force du destin à l’Opéra Bastille, notamment grâce à Anna Pirozzi qui, remplaçant Anna Netrebko, interprète une magnifique Leonora.

Langeweile gibt es bei Anna Netrebkos Liederabend bei den Münchner Opernfestspielen auf keinen Fall.

Mise en abyme du drame qui conduira Rigoletto à vivre errant comme un défunt, cette production mise en scène par Claus Guth et portée par une distribution vocale très juste s'avère tout aussi saissisante qu'étonnantament lumineuse dans ce qu'elle révèle pourtant de plus sombre des affects humains.

Chowanschtschina ist ein Gesamtkunstwerk, das an der Wiener Staatsoper nicht mit der Regie, doch mit musikalischen Leistungen besticht.