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Giorgio Sangati's staging idea pits Christians vs Saracens as pop stars against dark metal.

This production fell just short of brilliance but showed how relevant and thought-provoking opera as an art form can be when tapping into today's headline debates.

In the nearby city of Winterthur, Zurich’s fine International Opera Studio (IOS) recently premiered two short operas by Maurice Ravel, a flashy L’Heure espagnole and a lyrical L’Enfant et les sortilèges.

La lotta d’Ercole con Acheloo has never been performed in Italy before, so this production sheds light on both Steffani's work and on this Festival's high quality.