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

Helen Charlston & Toby Carr; Siglo de Oro (LFBM, St John’s, Smith Sq)

Spare us the social justice preaching

Classical music is flourishing in Britain — though if you listened to our cultural elite you’d never know it

Politics and historical commentary aside, Lohengrin is currently on at Covent Garden

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

‘Peter Grimes’ labours under the weight of national anxieties

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?