Skilfully cast and sung – tenor Shengzhi Ren a particular stand out – and beautifully played, this was the Scottish premiere of Strauss’s late one-act opera

Scottish Opera’s new production makes the most of the work’s reinstated spoken-word sections, but suffers from a lack of charisma in its star

David McVicar’s atmospheric production of Puccini’s triptych gains from magnificent performances by Roland Wood and, in her company debut, Sunyoung Seo

Excellence and perilous funding went hand in hand, Salome sizzled, a piano great led the way, and India and Italy became musical neighbours

Deborah Colker’s staging of the Argentinian composer’s tale of the poet Lorca is clever and effective, with Scottish Opera’s orchestra capturing the musical colours and the score’s collage of influences

Scottish Opera’s semi-staged performance of Massenet’s opera about a love triangle during the French Revolution is delightful - full of passionate outbursts and high emotion

A brilliantly reimagined and boldly immersive promenade performance, complete with flashmob choir, plays to the strengths of Leonard Bernstein’s witty operetta

Staged as a dystopian psychodrama, this sure-footed production is played with beautifully delineated detail

Enchantment, glee and fresh voices are well met in Scottish Opera’s winning new production of Britten’s opera, while Janáček’s music holds court at ENO

The company celebrated its return to the Theatre Royal with some good old-fashioned – if not downright antiquated – fun and frivolity

Live music is back across the UK; we pick ten events to brighten the coming months

The year will be long remembered for recitals to an empty Wigmore Hall, car-park Puccini, Ravel as animation – and one man and his piano…