A new production of Sergei Prokofiev's opera "War and Peace" at the Bavarian State Opera is a call for peace. Russian star director Dmitri Tcherniakov sets his staging in the middle of Moscow.

Operas tell stories in a special yet not always accessible way. They also often come off as elitist. Has opera had its day? An exhibition looks into the art form's constant reinvention.

He arrived at the head of a venerated cultural institution at one of the most critical moments of its 300-year history, as the Paris Opera grappled with a pandemic, prolonged strikes and ethical questions about diversity both on and off the stage. Yet its director Alexander Neef is not one to shy away from a challenge. He joins us in the studio to tell us about the upcoming season of live performances after a turbulent year at the helm.

The shocking image of a violently ill Alexander Litvinenko as he lay dying from radioactive poisoning in a London hospital bed is how much of the world remembers the ex Russian spy. But a new opera in London based on a book by his wife Marina and composed by former London financier, Anthony Bolton seeks to tell more of his story. A British public inquiry in 2016 concluded that Russian President Vladimir Putin had "probably approved" Litvinenko's killing, which it said was likely to have been FSB-directed, but no one has ever been brought to justice.

The finishing touches are being put on a glitzy show at the Sydney Opera House, as the venue prepared to host an opera crowd for the first time since March. "The Merry Widow" will open on Tuesday to masked audiences up to 75 percent capacity, in a sign of hope for a performing arts industry crippled by the pandemic

While deprived of rehearsals and performances because of the COVID-19 pandemic, musicians from the Deutsche Oper in Berlin are offering a series of free concerts in the courtyards of nursing homes. This gives them the opportunity to entertain and play for elderly people who rarely have the chance to go out, and to rediscover the pleasure of performing together.

Celebrating 350 years of Paris's iconic Opera.

New York's Metropolitan Opera has been performing Giacomo Puccini’s La Bohème since 1900, but the public rarely, if ever, gets to see how it's done. Now, a behind-the-scenes look at the set lets us see that the production is as spectacular backstage as it is from the audience.