Artiste: Tivadar Kiss

Attila Mókus's dramatic baritone was scornful at one moment, tender, distressed, vengeful, or broken in mourning at others, vocal signposts in Rigoletto’s descent into the hell of his own making.

András Almási-Toth production of the original version of Mussorgsky's historical epic underwhelms in Budapest. 

In András Almási-Toth's engaging new production, magnificent orchestral and choral performances let Wagner's music do the talking.

Stephen Gould is less than convincing in the lead role of Tannhäuser, but excellent ensemble work under Ádám Fischer's inspired direction offers compensations.

Oliver von Dohnányi leads a great orchestral performance to drive Meyerbeer's grand historical epic, lit up by sparkling coloratura from Klára Kolonits.

This double cast, nine-day revival of Vadim Milkov's staging of Pique Dame offers a relatively straight reading of Tchaikovsky's opera about the obsessive Pushkin-based character Herman. Embracing the opera's choral and dance passages, spectacle and pageantry are paramount; the drama's surreal and more nuanced dimensions could have been better profiled.