The Met’s 2023 Nabucco cast – and conductor – act as a timely reminder of the work’s stature

United StatesUnited States Verdi, Nabucco: Soloists, Chorus and Orchestra of the Metropolitan Opera, New York / Daniele Callegari (conductor). Transmitted live (directed by Habib Azar) from the Metropolitan Opera, New York, to London’s Barbican Cinema, 6.1.2024. (CC)

George Gagnidze (centre on steps as Nabucco) © Marty Sohl/Met Opera

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An excellent 2023 cast puts the fizz back into Vienna State Opera’s venerable Die Fledermaus

AustriaAustria Johann Strauss II, Die Fledermaus: Soloists, Chorus and Orchestra of Vienna State Opera / Simone Young (conductor). Broadcast live (directed by Jakob Pitzer) from the Vienna State Opera, 31.12.2023. (JPr)

Hiroshi Amako (Alfred) and Camilla Nylund (Rosalinde) © WS/Michael Pöhn

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The Royal Ballet’s cosily familiar The Nutcracker returns to welcome in Christmas yet again

United KingdomUnited Kingdom Sir Peter Wright’s The Nutcracker: Dancers of The Royal Ballet, The Schola Cantorum of The London Oratory School, London Oratory Junior Choir (director: Charles Cole), Orchestra of the Royal Opera House / Andrew Litton (conductor). Broadcast live (directed by Peter Jones) for the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, 12.12.2023 and seen at Everyman Chelmsford, Essex, 18.12.2023. (JPr)

Anna Rose O’Sullivan (Sugar Plum Fairy) and Marcelino Sambé (Prince) © Alice Pennefather

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A very well sung new Turandot in Naples is not the car crash it might appear to be

ItalyItaly Puccini, Turandot: Children’s Chorus (director: Stefania Rinaldi), Chorus and Orchestra of Teatro di San Carlo / Dan Ettinger (conductor). Livestreamed on medici.tv from Teatro di San Carlo, Naples. 9.12.2023. (JPr)

Vasily Barkhatov’s Turandot at Naples’s Teatro di San Carlo

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The Metropolitan Opera’s Florencia en el Amazonas fails to float my boat

United StatesUnited States Daniel Catán, Florencia en el Amazonas: Soloists, Chorus and Orchestra of the Metropolitan Opera, New York / Yannick Nézet-Séguin (conductor). Transmitted live (directed by Gary Halvorson) and seen at Cineworld Basildon, Essex, 9.12.2023. (JPr)

Ailyn Pérez (Florencia Grimaldi) with waterlilies © Ken Howard/Met Opera

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Robert Wilson’s static Paris Turandot focuses the mind on Puccini’s score and some excellent singing

FranceFrance Puccini, Turandot: Soloists, Maîtrise des Hauts-de-Seine, Chorus, Children’s Choir and Orchestra of Paris Opera / Marco Armiliato (conductor). Broadcast live (directed by François Roussillon) from the Opéra Bastille, Paris, 13.11.2023. (JPr)\

Iréne Theorin (Turandot) and Brian Jagde (Calaf) in Robert Wilson’s Turandot

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Carlos Acosta’s Don Quixote is reviewed through today’s lens: could the Royal Ballet dance any better?

United KingdomUnited Kingdom Minkus (arr. and orch. Martin Yates), Don Quixote: Dancers of The Royal Ballet, Orchestra of the Royal Opera House / Valery Ovsyanikov (conductor). Recorded live (directed by Ross MacGibbon) at the Royal Opera House, London, 7.11.2023 and seen at Everyman Cinema, Chelmsford, Essex. 13.11.2023. (JPr)

Matthew Ball as Basilio in Don Quixote © Andrej Uspenski

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