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Top drawer singing and comic acting bring out the comedy in Laurent Pelly's light-hearted production

In Il turco in Italia, Gioachino Rossini’s command of spiritedness and musical timing is well matched by the plot of lovers’ infidelities.

Hamburg State Opera launches its new season with a visually overpowering but musically satisfying Così fan tutte.

The Rossini Opera Festival stages a new production of the most famous of Rossini’s masterpieces to celebrate the composer in the 150th anniversary of his death.

Emilio Sagi’s brightly lit but simplistic staging of Il viaggio a Reims moves the action from northern France to a sunny spa hotel in warmer climes.

Daniela Barcellona and Jessica Pratt lead a strong cast in an emotional and elegant performance of the first opera seria by Rossini under the expert baton of Roberto Abbado. 

Mark Lamos' staging is a riot of colour and movement; George Souglides gives us a masterclass in costumery; fine Italian singing illuminates this Norwegian première for Rossini's madcap Il turco in Italia.

An opera that pokes fun at opera seria? An opera that features backstage preparations for a show, followed by an opera within an opera? No, it’s not Strauss' Ariadne auf Naxos. 

Donizetti's La Fille du régiment brings much needed joy to the Teatro Real, with Javier Camarena's astonishing voice and Aleksandra Kurzak's unapologetic tomboy mesmerising the audience.

The Met’s playful production of Rossini’s great, loveable and busy La Cenerentola is back and in excellent hands. Joyce DiDonato's Cinderella, singing the role at the Met for the first time is perfect.

For frothy entertainment, Pelly’s Fille is harmless fun, even if it descends into pantomime cliché. Juan Diego Flórez’s Tonio ensures it remains a hot ticket and Patrizia Ciofi’s Marie is a bundle of energy.

In La rondine’s climactic scene, when Magda explains to her young lover Ruggero why she believes she must leave him, Puccini sets their exchange to one of the most hackneyed of all musical formulas: the cycle of fifths.

When Jean-Christophe Spinosi stepped onto the podium to conduct Le Comte Ory that night, he didn’t wait for his applause to cease, but instantly cued a hearty forte from the Ensemble Matheus, and consequently a few incredulous looks from the audience.

For its 40th anniversary, the Hong Kong Arts Festival chose Mozart’s Così fan tutte as its main opera offering. Whatever you may call it – opera buffa, comedy of manners, or “dramma giocoso” – Mozart’s lovely music makes Così fan tutte wonderful entertainment. That’s what the Bavarian State Opera delivered on Sunday afternoon to commemorate this important milestone of the Festival.

Mis en scène par Laurent Pelly, Don Pasquale de Donizetti est présenté à La Monnaie : une machinerie réglée au millimètre près, sur la fabuleuse vis comica d’une musique extraordinairement efficace.

Tras trece años, la ópera que combina romanticismo y humor volvió a la capital chilena, con un montaje donde destacó lo cómico, unido a un bien logrado resultado musical. 

L’œuvre de Rossini donnait l’occasion à la mise en scène (Laura Scozzi) d’explorer les réminiscences contemporaines offertes par le livret d’Angelo Anelli. L’angle choisi est celui des relations, plutôt conflictuelles et violentes entre hommes et femmes.

Un Così fan tutte tan afortunado como inquietante de la mano de J. Pons y D. Michieletto