Live reviews

I see from the January edition of Opera magazine that Amanda Echalaz is making her Met debut, in January 2014, as Madame Butterfly. We'll be re-visiting her Tosca when we see the new production in Santa Fe this summer. Still at the Met, Edward Gardiner is conducting Der Rosenkavalier there during 2013-14.

Over at Covent Garden, there's a new production of Les Vepres siciliennes planned for 2013, directed by Stefan Herheim who was responsible for the the 2008 Parisfal at Bayreuth. In many ways the plot of the opera is not satisfactory, though I have only seen it once when Rosalind Plowright sang Helene), but I wonder what the latest tyro of Regie-Theater will make of it. Also at Covent Garden in 2012-13 Leo Nucci will be singing the title role in a new Nabucco, conducted by Pappano. I've found the last two UK productions of this opera I've seen (at Covent Garden and at ENO) to be rather unsatisfying, so it will be interesting to see if this gets any better.

And Birmingham Opera Company are celebrating their 25th anniversary in March with Graham Vick directing Jonathan Dove's new opera Life is Dream, based on the Calderon play.