Artiste: Gillian Ramm

ETO's extracts from Rossini's serious operas at the Hackney Empire lacked spark and dynamism, but saw a fine showing from Elena Xanthoudakis and Catherine Carby.

Classical Opera, with some deft revisions to Süssmayr's recitatives and a superb team of soloists, bring us a Clemenza both powerful and poignant, finally doing justice to Mozart's underrated late opera, composed for the coronation of a Hapsburg king. 

With most of the original cast of English National Opera's critically acclaimed production returning to the Royal Albert Hall to perform Britten's Peter Grimes for the BBC Proms, this was a performance of which much of the audience had high expectations. For the most part, these were met and, on occasion, exceeded.

Mozart’s penultimate opera, La Clemenza di Tito is a curious work; probably the least known of his major operas, it is heavy on the recitative and lacks any “big tunes”, but it has a fascinating and timeless plot, which offers moments of high drama and eloquently depicts the loneliness of the supreme ruler.