Performer: Rosa Bove

Christophe Gayral gives Vivaldi's Farnace a contemporary update at the Teatro Malibran, but there are musical compensations. 

Fabio Ceresa returns to Wexford Festival Opera in flamboyant style with a production of Vivaldi's pasticcio. 

Cecilia Bartoli is joined by frequent collaborators Moshe Leiser and Patrice Caurier in a fun-filled Rossini farce full of Italian sunshine. Big grins all round. 

This was the first performance in modern times of Giovanni Paisiello’s Zenobia in Palmira and was enjoyed at the Teatro di Corte (Court Theatre) in the Royal Palace. 

Although I never had the pleasure of attending Garsington Opera in its original setting in Garsington Manor, I was very impressed by their new premises at Wormsley, Buckinghamshire, with their spectacular-looking and also comfortable opera pavilion.