Performer: Elin Pritchard

In a new production at The Grange Festival, Elin Pritchard's performance of Puccini's titular heroine in this 1940s-era update is a tour de force.

Comic opera can fall flat, but if The Grange Festival's new production of Verdi's final masterpiece is a total delight, with a strong concept and a strong cast. This is country-house opera at its best.

It's hard to find anything not to admire in a thrillingly strong production of Britten's haunting chamber opera. 

Charles Edwards and Annabel Arden direct Leoncavallo's Pagliacci and Ravel's L'Enfant et les sortilèges in a contrasting pairing of two short operas in Opera North's 'Little Greats' season.

Nicholas McGegan leads Royal Northern Sinfonia and Samling soloists through a dramatic and thought-provoking performance of Handel's Israel in Egypt to offer an alternative look at the Easter message of hope. 

Michael Sanderling conducts the Dresden Philharmonic in Beethoven in Cardiff.