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In the first and last acts, ladies entered with a train still attached to a bolt of cloth, which was then cut to length by an attendant. Was this production brought to the stage in a great hurry, allowing no time for costume fittings? 

Lydia Steier's new production of Candide is a kaleidoscopic celebration of Leonard Bernstein's varied musical idioms. 

How do you conduct the same over-familiar work for the 200th time, and make it sound quite new?

Reminding us of the timeless relevance of myth, Joe Hill-Gibbons’s Scottish Opera production of Greek moves to Hannover with a few contemporary twists.

I wanted to hear more from Louise Alder, but that was true of each of the four singers.

Nevill Holt Opera and Royal Northern Sinfonia offer a sumptuous production, with gorgeous singing, but one unafraid to make us confront the uncomfortable aspects of the plot.

Despite the beautiful sensitivity of La Nuova Musica, coupled with some truly sublime singing, the silliness of Cavalli’s opera is sometimes overplayed in this semi-staged production; less is, sometimes, more.

The 2016 Proms come to a riotous close at the Royal Albert Hall.