March 14 Andrea Chénier Giordano - Covent Garden 2015 (Kaufmann)
 

Jonas Kaufman as Umberto Giordano's ill-fated poet in a Royal Opera production conducted by Antonio Pappano. Eva-Maria Westbroek is his equally ill-fated Maddalena, doomed lovers in Revolutionary Paris..
April 11
 Cavalleria Rusticana + Pagliacci - Salzburg 2015 (Kaufmann)
Bring-a-Friend Night
 

Full-blooded Italian passion in the classic verismo double-act, from the Salzburg Festival. Directed by Philip Stolzl, conducted by Christian Thielemann, and yes, Kaufmann again.
May 16
 Il Seraglio Mozart - Glyndebourne 2015 (dir. David McVicar)
 

Mozart's first huge success, in a sparkling Glyndebourne production by David McVicar. An original-period vision of Enlightenment-era fascination with the East.
June 13
 King Roger Szymanowski - Covent Garden 2015 (c. Pappano)
 

Our first opera by a Polish composer? Karol Szymanowski's King Roger premiered in Warsaw in 1926 and has lately seen a revival of interest. Exciting, often opulent music; from Covent Garden.

The clash of Apollonian and Dionysian ideals (the former equating to intellectual order, the latter to unrestrained instincts) is redolent of Britten's Death in Venice, our August screening.
July 11 La Traviata Verdi - Aix en Provence 2011 (Natalie Dessay)
 

Verdi's most tuneful, most popular, and most moving opera? This production, from the Aix-en-Provence Festival, offers a spine-tingling performance from Natalie Dessay This really is one not to be missed.

August 15
 Death in Venice Britten - ENO 2014 (c. Edward Gardner)
 

Benjamin Britten's final opera, based on a novella by Thomas Mann, and regarded by many as Britten's finest work. English National Opera, with John Graham-Hall as the tortured writer.

September 12 Der Rosenkavalier Strauss - Salzburg 2014 (Vienna Phil.)
 

Richard Strauss' lush, romantic score gets the full treatment from the Vienna State Opera, conducted by Franz Welser-Möst. The stellar cast is headed by Krassimira Stoyanova as the Marschallin, with Sophie Koch as her Octavian.
October 10 Semyon Kotko Prokofiev - Mariinsky 2015 (c.Valery Gergiev)
 

This month (or next, depending on which calendar you are using), marks the 100th anniversary of the Russian Revolution. Sergei Prokofiev's opera, first performed before Stalin in the fateful year of 1940, tells a story of love, war and resistance in post-Bolshevik Russia. Conducted by Valery Gergiev – who else?
November 7 Don Carlo Verdi - Covent Garden 2008 (Rolando Villazón)
 

Our second Verdi opera to end the year, and a great one. A stirring performance from Covent Garden, with Rolando Villazón as Carlo, Marina Poplavskaya as Elizabeth of Valois, and Simon Keenlyside as Rodrigo. Antonio Pappano conducts..