Werk: Powder Her Face

Sex, fame, luxury and envy meet in an irresistible cocktail as the Reisopera stages the Dutch premiere of Thomas Adès’ chamber opera. 

Top accolades go to soprano Mary Plazas, whose Duchess was at once despicable for her sense of entitlement and her racist and anti-Semitic views, and heartbreakingly vulnerable with her realisation at the end that "the only people who were ever good to me were paid for it".

Thomas Adès’ Powder Her Face has plenty of sex written in, and West Edge Opera's production adds even more. But it's the music and drama that sell.