A radiant start to the year in Budapest: Haydn's The Creation at Müpa

Never before has human impotence been so cruelly portrayed on stage.

A conventional plot retains few of the elements of its Arabian Nights original, but the Academy's young pupils display vocal mastery in Milan.

An opera which has not only a historical and philological interest for scholars and experts, but is of great musical value.

Bechtolf's seductively imaginative staging consists in a flat pack fairytale world full of surprises that delight like the contents of a pop up book.

Bridging new and old, the young graduates of Teatro alla Scala's Academy joined seasoned Italian opera legends for an "Academy Project" performance of Gioachino Rossini's Il barbiere di Siviglia in Jean-Pierre Ponnelle's 46-year-old staging.

La soprano et le ténor ont brillé de mille feux dans un programme qui aurait gagné à davantage de réflexion dans la conception, et malgré un orchestre parfois à la peine.