En direct, Vidéo: Rechercher des critiques de musique classique, opéra et ballet | Patrick Summers

A wonderfully realized production at San Francisco Opera of Jake Heggie's operatic version of a holiday classic. 

The production is a disconcerting combination of cold metallic future and Neanderthal aesthetics – a startling pairing of humanity’s beginning and its end. 

A new bel canto opera, a pro football team, and the future of American Opera--all in a day's work for Heggie, McNally, DiDonato, and von Stade.

Houston Grand Opera’s season-opening production of the fiery opera does it right, from lighting to set to singing, and the end result is a stunning beginning to its season.

San Francisco Opera's production of Sweeney Todd brings nothing new to the musical, but the cast includes wonderful surprises – most notably Stephanie Blythe's Mrs Lovett.

In Mozart's The Marriage of Figaro, Figaro and his bride-to-(maybe)-be Susannah share their ups and downs, but in San Francisco Opera's revival production directed by Robin Guarino, it was evident they would be a veritable match made in heaven.

All five of the Houston Grand Opera’s performances of Die Walküre sold out immediately – more than 13,000 seats – and there are several good reasons why.

American soprano Sondra Radvanovsky is the reason to see Anna Bolena, though the production provides plenty of other reasons to stay. 

Two worlds occupied by the same two women and presented, jarringly, as a single multi-story set. One is the pristine white deck of a 1960s ship bound for Brazil, and beneath it, where the hull might be, is the grey grim world of Auschwitz.

What happens when the director develops in directions the company neither wanted or expected? For San Francisco Opera’s new Der Fliegende Holländer, this discovery led to decisive action: director Petrika Ionesco was sacked just before the opening.

Though reports of the work’s importance and dramatic power have attended it since its 2010 premiere in Dallas, I doubt many in the audience of the War Memorial Opera House on Wednesday night were prepared for the impact of Jake Heggie’s Moby-Dick.

“A revival of a revival of a revival” might describe Handel’s practice of reviving his own works. This highly acclaimed revival production of Handel's Xerxes received it best performance to date with a star-studded cast.Xerxes tells the tale of two brothers, Xerxes and Arsamenes, both competing for the same bride – Romilda.

Read our review of Mary Zimmerman's production of ­Donizetti's Lucia di Lammermoor in its 2011 broadcast from the Met Opera in New York.

Read our review of Stephen Wadsworth’s production of Iphigénie en Tauride by Gluck, in its 2011 broadcast from the Met Opera in New York.

Read our review of Anthony Minghella's production of Puccini­'s Madama Buttefly in its 2009 broadcast from the Met Opera in New York.

Read our review of Jürgen Flim's production of Salome in its 2008 broadcast from the Met Opera in New York.