The sixty-one staged or concert performances of operas reviewed in these pages since the creation of MusicalCriticism.com in March 2007 are a salutary reminder of the breadth of productions staged every year in the UK.

It never fails to astound me that Opera North, English Touring Opera and Welsh National Opera manage to create such high-quality performances on the shoestring budgets afforded them by the government, while even the much-derided Scottish Opera looks set to improve with an increased touring schedule in 2008-09.

All these companies are to be commended particularly for their investment in new works – whether WNO’s The Sacrifice , Scottish Opera’s Five:15 or Opera North’s Pinocchio - and Glyndebourne will join the queue next summer with the world premiere of Peter Eцtvцs’ new opera, Love and Other Demons .

A strong autumn season by Opera North , the LSO’s concert performance of Benvenuto Cellini under Sir Colin Davis and contrasting performances of Monteverdi’s Orfeo at St John’s Smith Square and the Queen Elizabeth Hall were amongst the year’s highpoints, proving that opera doesn’t have to be staged at a London opera house to be worthwhile.