Instrument: Actor

Director Anapela Polata’ivao handles her mixed forces of amateurs and professionals with seamless assurance, the crowds’ movements across the stage showing both clarity and intent. 

At the George Enescu International Festival, a pair of new shows crossing genres and reinventing the classics, with mostly enlightening results.

Nicholas Collon and the Aurora Orchestra, together with Frantic Assembly, present an illuminating analysis of Shostakovich's Fifth Symphony, followed by a blistering account of the work from memory.

Director Constantine Costi updates the action  of Mozart's Singspiel to a secluded cross between a cult headquarters and a nightclub. 

Cecilia Stinton’s new production of Lucia di Lammermoor doesn't necessarily make best use of OHP’s performance space, but the singers excel. 

Nearing the close of the season, Deutsche Oper Berlin premieres Rebecca Saunders’ first opera Lash – Acts of Love, a visceral reflection on love and death.

A fine singing cast gives creditable performances in Johann Stauss II's most famous operetta, but Paul Curran's updating of Act 2 to 1930s Berlin takes the fizz out of the Champagne.