Performer: Abramo Rosalen

Jean-Paul Scarpitta’s San Carlo staging was almost as minimal as a biblical oratorio.

Netrebko's Violetta is now fuller in body and voice than in her former incarnation. Goodbye to the fresh-faced damsel we saw in Salzburg; hello to a larger-than-life courtesan in her twilight years.

A beautiful production by Alvis Hermanis of Madama Butterfly to open La Scala's new season, but it was Riccardo Chailly's presentation of Puccini's original 1904 score which caught the ear. 

Elena Barbalich's mis-en-scene for Le nozze di Figaro in Turin seemed a swirling game of Chinese boxes, but the vocal performances were full of vitality.