Venue: Wales Millennium Centre, Cardiff

Olivia Fuchs gives a powerful staging of Janáček's morality tale of the perils of eternal youth, with an excellent cast, but there are reservations about the title role.

WNO finally emerges from the pandemic with a performance of The Barber of Seville full of emotion and elation.

A solid Figaro in Cardiff, in which individual performances are a joy, and humour abounds. 

David Pountney completes his “Verdi trilogy” for the company but although his staging has fluidity, it lacks an explosive ending... and the vocal performances disappoint. 

Virginie Verrez acted not with fire and ice but with gallic insouciance.

It is a thing of wonder that Roberto Devereux is one of Donizetti’s lesser known works. Whether on account of its challenging soprano part, or its fussy Tudor setting, it is rarely performed, but contains some of the composer’s most beautiful – and indeed memorable – arias and duets.

Dominic Cooke’s Magritte-inspired production returns to Wales Millennium Centre to keep the audience giggling. 

Musically, WNO gets it right. Straightforward brilliance is the order of the day, and plenty of it.