La Scala or a smoochy album deal

Adriano Graziani finds himself at a crossroads: climb the mountain to Covent Garden, or the greasy pole to the GMTV sofa

La Favorite

A concert performance of a rare Donizetti opera is somewhat patchy but neverless brings the work to life

An aria too far

No matter how hard he tries, opera fails to hit the high notes for Allan Brown

Pick of the week: Dame Felicity Lott, Glasgow Royal Concert Hall

Glasgow Royal Concert Hall, Sat (0141 353 8000)

Il Divo hit back

Opera boyband Il Divo and their svengali, Simon Cowell, tell Dan Cairns why they don’t care if critics sniff at their music

Italian opera houses singing to save their lives

Legions of music fans fear spending cuts by the Government of Silvio Berlusconi could mean the end for the historic venues

The Cumnor Affair

The audience is drawn closely into this shadowy Elizabethan miniature, where the drama is all in the music

Boris Godunov

Such a score, and such grandiose tragedy, calls for an epic protagonist, and that's where this show underwhelms

Elektra

Susan Bullock's Elektra is astonishing - her acting glint-eyed and obsessive, her singing turbo-charged

La Traviata - the Sunday Times review

Scottish Opera's dark and bawdy Traviata is expertly staged, but let down by its leads

Through hell and high Cs with Elektra

The Cheshire-born soprano Susan Bullock tells Neil Fisher how the gruelling role of Elektra took over her life

Tim Albery on the other bossman Boris Godunov

A larger-than-life politician called Boris? ENO’s new opera is bang up to date, director Tim Albery tells Emma Pomfret

The Rape of Lucretia

This concert performance of Britten’s The Rape of Lucretia is conducted with real energy and features outstanding vocals

Damon Albarn: Britpop's biggest star

He’s indifferent to money and drugs. He hates the celebrity circus. Damon Albarn tells all to Robert Sandall

I Capuleti e i Montecchi and Matilde di Shabran - the Sunday Times review

Two bel canto works see big names in fine voice, and at Covent Garden a rising star comes of age

For You - the Sunday Times review

In the tyrannical composer and his Polish housekeeper of Michael Berkeley’s lively new work, Ian McEwan has created two of his best characters

La traviata

Carmen Giannattasio’s gives quite a performance. In one cabaletta she shreds a roses, flings wine and hurls cutlery

Parsifal

This was a striking show with a stunning cast, and the music was played with fabulous and untiring elegance - beautiful

For You

Ian McEwan skewers these characters to his blackly comic canvas in typically concise fashion, this is pithy, witty stuff

Dr Atomic at the Metropolitan Opera, New York

Adams's music is the prime reason to see the opera. The American has written his most eclectic and boldest score