Seen in cinemas: Dutch National Ballet’s Giselle with Olga Smirnova is conceived on a grand scale

NetherlandsNetherlands Dutch National Ballet’s Giselle: Dancers of Dutch National Ballet, Dutch Ballet Orchestra / Ermanno Florio (conductor). Filmed (directed by Isabelle Julien) at the Dutch National Opera & Ballet. Amsterdam, on 26 and 29.10.2023 and released worldwide in cinemas only from 21.1.2024. (JPr)

Olga Smirnova (Giselle) and Jacopo Tissi (Albrecht) © Alex Gouliaev

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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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