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A performance of highs and lows with a stellar step-in from Lidia Fridman as Lucrezia Borgia and a confused production by Ferenc Anger plays at the Palace of Arts.

The real sensation of the evening was Alex Esposito – this time, Gounod's Faust should have been titled Méphistophélès...

Donizetti's music in this early opera has the freshness and liveliness of his most mature comic works, but l barbiere di Siviglia and La Cenerentola were just a few years before, as one could easily perceive.

In Paris, Russian enfant terrible reunites Iolanta with The Nutcracker... with wildly mixed results. 

Juditha triumphans in a minimalist production at Venice's Teatro La Fenice. 

In a very silly production of Rossini's La Cenerentola at the Staatsoper, the cast takes a while to warm up, but are irresistably charming in full form.

Elena Barbalich's mis-en-scene for Le nozze di Figaro in Turin seemed a swirling game of Chinese boxes, but the vocal performances were full of vitality. 

Laurent Pelly traslada el divertido Il turco in Italia a los años sesenta en una producción que cuenta con unas voces puramente rossinianas.

Michael Hanekes letztjährigen Madrider Sensationserfolg stieß in Wien auf einhellige  Begeisterung. Tatsächlich und ganz ohne Ironie: Was man zu sehen bekam, war der Inbegriff des vielstrapazierten Vergleichs vom großen Kino.