Instrument: Choir / Chorus

An entertaining portrayal of the 1973 “Battle of the Sexes” tennis match between Billie Jean King and Bobby Riggs is marred by ham-fisted amplification.

Presenting a work like Carmen is a punchy move by a conservatoire. The Royal Academy of Music's production has conceptual weaknesses, but features some good singing. 

Conducted by Sakari Oramo, the Czech Philharmonic turn in a brilliant performance of Mahler's Resurrection Symphony that lights all the old revolutionary fires.

Manuel Renga’s sensitive framing device sets up a sympathetic production of a problematic opera, but is scuppered by the central vocal performance.

Klára Kolonits's radiant Elsa proves the main attraction in the Hungarian State Opera's visually appealing but conceptually lacking new Lohengrin.

Il campanello and Deux Hommes et une femme bomb at the Donizetti Opera festival, but the young singers of the Bottega Donizetti – and wily old hand Alessandro Corbelli – impress.

Director Dmitri Tcherniakov and a talented cast have done everything to make this opera work, but problematic elements persist.