Performer: Maria Björnson

Opera North's child-friendly production of The Cunning Little Vixen, conducted by Andrew Gourlay, is loaded with charm.

David Pountney's House of the Dead makes for high entertainment at Welsh National Opera.

When an enormous black gondola creaks and shudders its way across the stage in the “Giulietta' act of the Royal Opera's Tales of Hoffmann, it acts as a metaphor for John Schlesinger's venerable production.

As part of the season of Scrooges and Santas, it’s a refreshing reminder of sweet simplicity in a complicated world.