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Birmingham Royal Ballet - The Nutcracker, at Birmingham Hippodrome

A giant flying swan, a doddery dancing grandpa and the capture of King Rat in a cage are the best bits of Birmingham Royal Ballet’s The Nutcracker - according to my young companion. Read

Les Ballets Trockadero de Monte Carlo at Birmingham Hippodrome

A month that sees the beginning of panto season, Privates on Parade at the Rep and The Trocks at the Hippodrome, suggests that camp kitsch is the order of the day for November in Birmingham. Read

CARMEN by Midland Opera at Crescent Theatre, Birmingham

Many congratulatons to Midland Opera for having pulled itself up by its bootstraps over a couple of years, effecting major changes, and making great strides to re-establishing itself in the position it held for decades as one of the region’s great amateur companies. Read

Varjak Paw opens up opera for all

Julian Philips talkes to Terry Grimley about Varjak Paw, his opera for families and kids. Read

Kristine Opolais takes double role in La Boheme

I t was hard to do an interview through scarcely-dried tears, after wallowing in a tremendous rehearsal of the final act of Puccini’s La Boheme at the CBSO Centre on Monday. Read

Free tickets sees Birmingham Royal Ballet sell out the Hippodrome

Birmingham Hippodrome will be filled on Tuesday night with 2,000 people who are seeing live ballet for the first time - and won’t have paid a penny for their tickets. Read

Bringing opera to the ethnic masses

A major musical project which aims to encourage black and Asian people into opera – as performers and supporters – is staged in Birmingham on Sunday as part of the city’s Black History Month celebrations. Ros Dodd reports. Read

Forget-Me-Not Opera at Dovehouse Theatre, Solihull

I have never been much a fan of evenings of operatic excerpts, and the format of this Solihull Festival event did little to change my mind. Read

The Mikado at Alexandra Theatre

It’s like old times seeing Gilbert & Sullivan staged in this theatre, where the D’Oyly Carte Opera Company was briefly based during the 1990s in one of Birmingham’s less successful experiments in importing ready-made companies. Read

The Nutcracker, English Youth Ballet at Grand Theatre, Wolverhampton

Noel Streatfield, author of Ballet Shoes would have loved this Nutcracker. Read

Birmingham Ballet's delight as dancers get special immigration status

Birmingham Royal Ballet will be allowed to recruit dancers from across the world, as Conservatives claimed immigration was “out of control”. Read

Family sells home to put son through Birmingham ballet school

The family of a real-life Billy Elliot have decided to sell their home to fund his place at a Birmingham ballet school. Read

Birmingham Opera's King Idomeneo sells out

Birmingham Opera Company’s decision to stage its latest work in a former rubber factory has proved a smash hit. Read

Review: Ignore silliness in Birmingham Opera Company's Idomeneo

The secret with Birmingham Opera Company presentations is to concentrate upon the positives. Read

A sweet note finally emerges from Arts Council grant fiasco

As Birmingham Opera Company stages its latest production, the inquiry into the row over the Arts Council’s Christmas cuts shows how reorganisation created a structure that was unfit for purpose. Read

An operatic designer for life

Jon Perks meets the designer with the task of making a Mozart opera feel at home in a disused factory Read

Stretching the boundaries of opera

Birmingham Opera Company is preparing to make an international splash alongside the canal in Ladywood. Terry Grimley meets artistic director Graham Vick. Read

Birmingham opera in disused rubber factory attracts international attention

Opera companies from Venice, Lisbon, Brussels, Verona, Madrid and Austria are expected to send representatives to see a production of Mozart’s Idomeneo at a disused rubber factory in Birmingham next month. Read

Das Rheingold at Longborough Festival Opera

First seen last year, Longborough’s Rheingold is a miracle of resource, imagination, flair and sheer cussed guts. Read

Birmingham Opera Company heads for rubber factory

Birmingham Opera Company will be staging a production of a Mozart favourite – in a former rubber factory. Read

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