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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.

Stellar performances can’t save ENO’s production of Thomas Ades’ masterpiece from poor direction, set design and venue.

Take four very talented performers. Throw in a score that pushes them to their vocal limits. Add an accordion and a fishing reel to the orchestra. Mix with a healthy dose of wry humor. Dot with ostrich features in Mary Kay pink. Simmer with sexual innuendo for two hours and eleven minutes.

The chamber opera Powder Her Face has acquired a reputation as a “Don Giovanni for the Monica Lewinsky generation”, a tagline of which I was initially quite skeptical.

If the craft of the conductor has ever been a mystery to you – for it can certainly be a mystery to the orchestra – there couldn’t have been a finer explanation than this showcase concert.