Performer: Carlo Rizzi

If you have dismissed this opera as overstuffed kitsch in the past, you might want to take a look at this production. It could well change your mind.

A solid Figaro in Cardiff, in which individual performances are a joy, and humour abounds. 

David Pountney completes his “Verdi trilogy” for the company but although his staging has fluidity, it lacks an explosive ending... and the vocal performances disappoint. 

A new, successful production by Leiser and Caurier supports a great cast of Rossini specialists, with Teresa Iervolino, Paolo Bordogna and Davide Luciano in the lead roles.

It is a thing of wonder that Roberto Devereux is one of Donizetti’s lesser known works. Whether on account of its challenging soprano part, or its fussy Tudor setting, it is rarely performed, but contains some of the composer’s most beautiful – and indeed memorable – arias and duets.