Live, Video: Find classical music concert, opera, ballet and dance reviews | English | Samson et Dalila: Bacchanale

It was truly magnifique to welcome French period instrument orchestra Les Siècles and François-Xavier Roth to the BBC Proms for a highly perfumed programme of exotic sweetmeats.

Nezet-Seguin and his Philadelphians convey the brilliance and sophistication of France's undisputed "golden age" of classical music with works by six Parisian composers.

As the audience assembled in Roy Thomson Hall on Wednesday, nothing seemed out of the ordinary. Members of the orchestra were taking their seats on the stage, getting ready to tune their instruments. However, anyone paying close attention to the setting would have seen a fixture hanging high above the stage.

As crowd-pulling operatic divas go, most of the attention goes to the sopranos. But a select number of mezzos have the same kind of following, and Latvia's Elina Garanča is high on that list. There are just a few roles where the mezzo is the main character of the opera (many of the others are "witches and bitches", as Garanča puts it), and the big one of those is Carmen.