Lent is an ideal time to take pleasure in a gentle, contemplative and very English strand of musical melancholia

Ignoring Russian opera — and, in particular, Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov — is a mistake

‘Peter Grimes’ labours under the weight of national anxieties

The brilliant story of a Francis Bacon exhibition in Moscow

Carmen still shocks and seduces

With productions this bad, it is no surprise that nobody cares about opera

Could the jazz-hands pizzaz of musical theatre be just what opera needs?

We promise to respect Her Majesty’s life tenancy of Buckingham Palace

Contemporary debates over the “suitability” of many operas leaves us with only English productions

The ENO’s production of The Valkyrie may lack flames, but it is convincing nonetheless