Instrument: Soprano

Never has Brecht and Weill’s satire on the inhumanity of man to man been render with such utter darkness; Simon O’Neill heads up a superb cast.

The Polish National Opera's first staging of Strauss' massive fairy tale feels like a bold statement of intent.

The French director’s much-travelled production arrives at the Teatro di San Carlo, displaying a precise balance between word, gesture and voice. 

Works by Crumb, Ruggles, Barber and Gershwin offer four distinct ideas of what American music can sound like in Barbara Hannigan’s explorative Cleveland Orchestra program.

Benjamin Britten’s dark masterpiece Peter Grimes returns triumphantly to Opera North, conducted by Gary Walker and revived by Karolina Sofulak and Tim Claydon.

Alexander Shelley tackles Schumann’s sprawling Das Paradies und die Peri with conviction, shaping real momentum and drama, even if balance issues and Thomas Moore’s cloying libretto sometimes distract.

Sláva Daubnerová's contemporary treatment of the Ring opener at the Prague National Theatre is socially ambitious but artistically disappointing.