Live, Video: Find classical music concert, opera, ballet and dance reviews | Michael Levine

A pasticcio of superb musicianship is the main event at the Venice-themed Whitsun Festival.

Anthony Minghella’s highly stylized Madama Butterfly returns to New York for its ninth revival, with the Polish soprano delivering a thrilling performance in a Met role debut.

Carrie Cracknell’s modernized take on Bizet’s 1875 iconic opera moves the action from early 19th-century Spain to a 21st-century American industrial town.

With a stellar cast and fine orchestral playing, Mozart’s enigmatic fairy tale takes on a darker, more grown-up tone in its first new Metropolitan Opera staging in 19 years.

Robert Carsen’s imaginative 2011 production of Mozart’s masterpiece is revived in Milan with an excellent cast led by Christopher Maltman.

The new production of Peter Grimes stands out as the strongest item in Teatro Real's season, with magnificent staging by Deborah Warner and superb musical direction by Ivor Bolton, with outstanding vocal and dramatic performances.