Big names (Richard Eyre, Willard White). Classic works (Mozart's The Marriage of Figaro, Verdi's Falstaff, Britten's The Turn of the Screw). Great weather. Fabulous food. A pastoral setting in the South of France. Who could ask for anything more? Aix-en-Provence. July 6-29

The hot ticket at this year's festival is director Deborah Warner's powerful modern-day take on Beethoven's Fidelio, above. Peter Hall does double duty with a revival of Britten's A Midsummer Night's Dream and a new production of Verdi's Otello. Glyndebourne, England; through Aug. 26 www.glyndebourne.com

Placido Domingo sings the role of Siegmund in Die Walküre on June 19 and conducts Aida on the 20th. "How often do you get to see Domingo do that in two days?" asks director Valery Gergiev. "Experience this and you will not be the same person." St. Petersburg, Russia; June 1-July 1

A 24-hour, seven-day-a-week cultural marathon (the Scottish Opera performing its second installment of Wagner's Ring Cycle, Mikhail Baryshnikov, Così fan Tutte) and launching ground for future stars. O.K. food. Dicey weather. Edinburgh, Scotland. Aug. 12-Sept. 1. www.eif.co.uk

Working with a mostly Russian cast, Cheek by Jowl company director Declan Donnellan scores a triumph with his revelatory production of this 1831 Alexander Pushkin play. On tour in Europe, with stops including London from June 12 to 16 and the Avignon Festival from July 11 to 18.

The former boy toy is now 42 and the mother of two. But Mrs. Guy Ritchie is still the hottest pop act around, which is why tickets to her July 4 concert at London's Earl Court (the expected highlight of a European tour kicking off in Barcelona on June 9) are going for up to $700 on Ebay.

The opera season at this mid-18th century theater, located in the grounds of the Swedish royal family's ornate summer palace and reachable by a 50-minute "theater boat" from Stockholm, features a production of Handel's Julius Caesar. June 21-July 7

Quarter Located on the site of the former Imperial Stables, this vast cultural complex, including the Museum of Modern Art, the Leopold Museum and the Kunsthalle, will soon be among the largest in the world. First stage opens on June 28, second part on Sept. 15.

Amplified by 80 works not included in an earlier show at London's Royal Academy, this retrospective of the 16th century artist and his contemporaries returns to the country of Caravaggio's birth. At Rome's Palazzo Venezia until July 31.

Now in its 26th year, what's been called the world's greatest indoor jazz festival features 220 performances by the likes of Herbie Hancock, Dianne Reeves, George Benson, the Buena Vista Social Club and Miriam Makeba. The Hague, the Netherlands; July 13-15