Artiste: Mitchell Butel

Love comes in 57 varieties in Cavalli's Apollo and Dafne, and they're both enjoyed and suffered by a dynamic cast of six playing 20 characters.

Voltaire and Bernstein's wilful political incorrectness make Candide a challenge to behold, but the Sydney Philharmonia meets them in a concert performance in the opera house.

Mary Finsterer has managed a musical melange that crosses effortlessly and delightfully from the Renaissance to today. If only Tom Wright's book and libretto had been a match, this would have been a work worth taking to the world.