Performer: Natalya Pavlova

Nicola Raab's production doesn't quite provide the bold rethinking it promises, but stylish execution and a fine cast make for an effective modern Traviata. 

Stefano Poda's staging has its own coherence, but it is as cold as the Chinese princess. 

A wedding feast, a man in drag and an outwitted fox were unlikely accomplices in the second concert in the Philharmonia's series Stravinsky: Myths and Rituals. 

Fervent flag-waving is usually reserved for the Last Night of the Proms, so what was going on in this Philharmonia concert? The Arena was awash with a sea of red flags, the chorus – and conductor Esa-Pekka Salonen – were decked out in T-shirts bearing portraits of Lenin or Stalin.