United Kingdom Torben Betts’s Murder at Midnight: Palace Theatre, Westcliff-on-Sea, Essex, 13.10.2025. (JPr)
A hardworking cast is the best thing about Torben Betts’s ‘theatrically ludicrous’ Murder at Midnight
Jim Pritchard
Fine singing and the splendid playing of the Paris Opera Orchestra redeems Shirin Neshat’s polemical Aida
France Verdi, Aida: Soloists, Chorus and Orchestra of Opéra national de Paris / Michele Mariotti (conductor). Livestreamed (directed by Mathilde Jobbé-Duval) from Opéra Bastille, Paris, 10.10.2025. (JPr)
Anna Netrebko impresses in Oliver Mears’s visceral, powerful and gripping new Tosca at Covent Garden
United Kingdom Puccini, Tosca: Soloists, Chorus, Children’s Chorus and Orchestra of the Royal Opera House / Jakub Hrůša (conductor). Filmed (directed for the screen by Peter Jones) at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, in September 2025 and broadcast to Cineworld Basildon, Essex, 1.10.2025. (JPr)
Vienna State Opera’s Tosca is almost as good as new in the production’s 665th outing
United Kingdom Puccini, Tosca: Soloists, Chorus and Orchestra of the Vienna State Opera / Pier Giorgio Morandi (conductor). Directed for the screen by Anna Gettel and broadcast from the Vienna State Opera on 27.9.2025. (JPr)
The Return of the Legends to the Cliffs Pavilion is a sheer delight
United Kingdom The Return of the Legends: Cliffs Pavilion, Southend-on-Sea, Essex, 24.9.2025. (JPr)
Saffron Opera Group redeem themselves with a compelling end to Wagner’s Der fliegende Holländer
United Kingdom Wagner, Der fliegende Holländer: Soloists, Saffron Opera Group Chorus (inc. Saffron Walden Choral Society, chorus masters: James Davey and Quintin Beer), Saffron Opera Group Orchestra / Michael Thorne (conductor). Saffron Hall, Saffron Walden, 14.9.2025. (JPr)
A splendid, fascinating and, at the end, courageous Prom led by Ilan Volkov
United Kingdom BBC Proms 2025 [31] – Gabrieli, Stravinsky, and Brahms: Jess Dandy (contralto), Ashley Riches (bass-baritone), National Youth Choir, BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra / Ilan Volkov (conductor). Royal Albert Hall, London, 11.9.2025. (MB)
Vienna State Opera’s past, present and future as Garanča, Kaufmann and Bernheim star in the open air
Austria Vienna State Opera’s Opern Air: Soloists, Vienna State Opera Chorus and Orchestra / Bertrand de Billy (conductor). Broadcast live (directed by Dominik Kepczynski) from the Burggarten, Vienna, 7.12.2025 and available from 18 September on arte.tv. (JPr)
