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The role of Elvira in Bellini’s I puritani contains the most challenging mad scenes in all opera, but soprano Lisette Oropesa dazzles on the opening night of Richard Jones’ new production.

The French director’s much-travelled production arrives at the Teatro di San Carlo, displaying a precise balance between word, gesture and voice. 

Vanessa Beecroft’s production of Ennio Morricone’s demanding sole opera relies on strong visual images. 

A new Medea at the Teatro di San Carlo presents three distinct visions – neoclassical in the pit, expressionistic on stage and conceptual in the direction – that never fully merge.

As Richard Eyre’s staging reaches its 30th anniversary, a new Violetta arrives on the Royal Opera block in what proves to be one of the best revivals in recent years. 

This production focuses on the psychological and human aspects of the central characters, rather than on their political conflict, with Elizabeth playing a pivotal role.

The second cast of the season for Oliver Mears' new Royal Opera production augments the intelligent staging with superb singing and acting.

The Maggio Musicale Fiorentino’s proposal is fully commendable, as they restored an opera rarely performed

The Gala Mozart Belcanto featured internationally renowned artists who performed a high quality virtuoso concert.

Zubin Mehta leads a great cast in a revival of a successful production of Verdi's Falstaff at the Staatsoper in Berlin

Zubin Mehta conducts Verdi's Otello in an iconic Robert Wilson production of stylized theater where less is more. The effect was mesmerizing.  

A welcome revival at the Met of Robert Carsen's witty production of Verdi's final opera. 

Traditionally, Italy's most unforgiving loggionisti are reputed to reside at Parma's Teatro Regio. Thankfully for the cast, they appear to be a dying breed.

Michael Volle makes his debut as Verdi's not-so-Fat Knight in Mario Martone's new production at the Staatsoper. 

Internationally acclaimed film director Wim Wenders and Daniel Barenboim give their debut with a rarely played opera by Georges Bizet.

The 2013 Salzburg production of Damiano Michieletto's Falstaff finally arrives in Milan where the director sets the opera in “Casa Verdi”, the Milanese residence for elderly singers and musicians.

Under Philippe Jordan's baton, the Orchestre de l'Opéra National de Paris performs Der Rosenkavalier  - an unrivalled pleasure. 

Daniele Gatti illuminates Robert Carsen's blithe Falstaff narrative

Routine took hold of the Teatro Real in its production of La traviata, despite baritone Juan Jesús Rodríguez's best efforts.

Soprano Amber Wagner debuts with a flair that reminds us that Verdi's Requiem has dramatic roots.

A great deal of the audience were in the house for La traviata last night for the chance to see Diana Damrau and Dmitri Hvorostovsky. They will not have been disappointed: these were performances of the very highest quality by two very fine singers, with Francesco Demuro all but matching them.

The Metropolitan Opera’s Live in HD simulcasts to movie theaters all over the world have been one of the biggest stories in the opera world in recent years and an undoubted hit with opera fans. Whether the program’s audience-building potential is commensurate with its box office hauls, however, is still a matter of debate.

Murder. Suicide. Grand larceny. Puccini's triptych of short operas, two tragedies followed by a riotous farce, always makes for an evening of variety, with the potential for many snatches of greatness.

If director Luc Bondy has a muse, it’s the Georgian baritone George Gagnidze, blessed with a bulging eyes and a big, craggy voice. After growling and sneering his way through Scarpia in Bondy’s much-maligned Metropolitan Opera production of “Tosca,” Gagnidze is back to do the same to the title role of “Rigoletto” in Bondy’s new production at the Wiener Festwochen.

Le metteur en scène polonais est à la tête d'une production de l'opéra de Strauss qui fera date, avec une distribution de rêve (dont Véronique Gens en Maréchale) et un orchestre au diapason.

Un segundo reparto vocal digno, aunque no siempre cómodo, ofreció Médée en el Teatro Real en una producción arrriesgada en lo escénico con una orquesta y dirección muy esmerados y de muy buen sonido y empaste.

Jessica Pratt es la protagonista indiscutible del segundo reparto de La sonnambula en el Teatro Real.

Dans cette production berlinoise décevante et faussement actuelle, seuls l'orchestre et la superstar Sonya Yoncheva parviennent à convaincre.

I Puritani ouvrent la saison de l'Opéra Bastille. Si la mise en scène de Laurent Pelly déçoit, les chanteurs se distinguent, Elsa Dreisig et Javier Camarena en tête.

Nouvelle production à l'Opéra Bastille, avec le Simon Boccanegra de Calixto Bieito. Une plongée dans les idées noires du personnage principal, magnifiquement interprété par Ludovic Tézier.

Cette reprise de Falstaff fait la part belle à l’esprit buffa et donne à Bryn Terfel une nouvelle occasion de briller dans un rôle qui lui sied à merveille.

Une guerre politique à laquelle se superpose une rivalité amoureuse, Robert Dudley, comte de Leicester étant aimé des deux femmes.

Le cinéaste Benoît Jacquot, réalisateur des Adieux à la reine trois fois auréolé aux Césars 2013, s'invite à l'Opéra National de Paris et, en bon nostalgique du drame lyrique traditionnel, relève l'épineux défi de s'attaquer à un monument du répertoire opératique.