When the cards fall in your favour: a striking Carmen from Kasper Holten in Bregenz

Eugene Onegin returns to the Sydney Opera house in Kasper Holten’s slightly awkward production but the singing and orchestral playing are exemplary. 

A committed cast struggles to lend a spark of life to Kasper Holten's static staging of Mozart's first mature opera.

Kasper Holten’s much travelled and spectacular Don Giovanni gets a fresh and lively remount at Toronto’s Four Seasons Centre from a young cast headed up by Gordon Bintner. 

Lucas Meachem’s portrayal suggests a paraphrase of what another Hollywood Don Juan, Errol Flynn in 1949, said to his Leporello in excusing his escapades. “My dear friend, there’s a little bit of Don Giovanni in every man, and since I am Don Giovanni, there must be more of it in me!” 

Ildar Abdrazakov and Ain Anger excel in the confrontation of tsar and historian; Kaspar Holten's safe but effective staging focuses on the relentless march of history.

Kasper Holten's decade-old production begins to show its age, in a routine revival with undistinguished soloists.