Performer: Andrew O'Connor

A rare 17th-century English Baroque spectacular, designed to delight the Restoration crowd, is given a contemporary twist in Sydney. 

Mark-Anthony Turnage's operatic adaptation of Thomas Vinterberg's tale of abuse provides rich entertainment even as it shocks.

Handel's Giulio Cesare is heavily abridged in Sydney, but generally well-performed musically, albeit with a rather awkward staging by Neil Armfield.