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The global credit crunch, with its painful exposure of the moral and literal bankruptcy of our own age, provides the perfect backdrop for this new production of Prokofiev’s The Gambler, the first ever staging of this opera at The Royal Opera House, Covent Garden.

Miriam Gilbert, professor of English in the University of Iowa College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, will present an introductory talk on Ambroise Thomas’ “Hamlet” at 5:30 p.m. today in Room 2520D on the second floor of the University Capitol Centre on the University of Iowa campus.

In its current revival of Donizetti’s L’Elisir d’amore Lyric Opera of Chicago’s production showcases the strengths and foibles of humanity, while assuring the ultimate triumph of love.

Throughout his relatively long and decidedly successful career, Giacomo Puccini returned to those operas of his that had not, immediately or eventually, secured an important place in the standard repertory.

Handel’s Tamerlano, in the production by Graham Vick, is well known, but its run at the Royal Opera House is unusual because many of the cast are creating the roles for the first time.

March 8 (Bloomberg) — A nose goes rogue, running off to experience life at its absurd best. The amused audience at the Metropolitan Opera on Friday night watched the nose fall in love, take a graceful turn as a ballerina, ride proudly at the head of a military parade.

“War and Peace,” the opera, arrived at the Kennedy Center freighted with expectations. Terms like “sprawling” and “masterpiece” are often applied to Prokofiev’s score, in keeping with its literary model, Tolstoy’s novel. Add in the curiosity value of the opera, seldom done in the West until the Mariinsky Opera and Orchestra began taking it on the road.

The South African artist William Kentridge has unleashed his imagination on Shostakovich’s bitterly satirical and breathless opera at the Met.

Because Emalie Savoy remains a graduate student at Juilliard through the spring, it’s fair to say her professional career has yet to begin.