Dame Ethel Smyth’s opera dated quickly, but it hardly hurts to have another look at it

John Blow, Venus and Adonis; Henry Purcell, Dido and Aeneas (HGO)

Spare us the social justice preaching

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

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?

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

While belly-laughs are not frequent, there’s terrific fun to be had in this massive soap-opera-style family melodrama