Instrument: Baritone

Andreas Schager is the main reason to catch the latest revival of Otto Schenk's ultra-traditional Tannhäuser.

After its Met Opera debut earlier in the year, Simon McBurney's popular staging returns to Amsterdam. 

The opening Opera Australia's much-delayed Ring cycle contains wonderful visuals, and a standout performance from Warwick Fyfe as Alberich, but also moments of bafflement and excess.

The Prague National Theatre serves up a bright finish to its insightful, troubling tour of interwar music. 

Although abbreviated, Pinchgut Opera's production of Handel's Rinaldo makes a powerful dramatic impact and exemplifies high musical values, with excellent orchestral playing and consistently fine singing.

Two short choral works and a Bach double violin concerto introduce Schubert’s neglected masterpiece, his Mass in A flat major. 

Questionable conducting aside, The Royal Opera's latest revival of Damiano Michieletto’s fluid production of the famous operatic double-bill is terrifically executed by two excellent casts.