Performer: Hadleigh Adams

New Zealand Opera's new production impresses with its stunning set design and art direction, and its restrained emotional tone. 

Led by guest conductor David Danzmayr, the Seattle Symphony's performance of Beethoven's Ninth resumes an interrupted tradition, with a Buddhist prayer set to music by Lili Boulanger as the touching preface.

Great vocal performances from Amina Edris and Gerald Finley grace John Adams' new opera, which opens San Francisco Opera’s centennial season.

Kathleen Belcher's production is well sung and vividly characterized – but a focus on the comedy comes at the expense of pathos

Programming Stephen Sondheim’s A Little Night Music is quite a daring move in a country with no real tradition in musical. This production by Nederlands Reisopera shows that fortune favours the bold.

Thomas Adès’ Powder Her Face has plenty of sex written in, and West Edge Opera's production adds even more. But it's the music and drama that sell.