Performer: Annika Schlicht

Benedikt von Peter's new staging of Bach's St Matthew Passion premieres at the Deutsche Oper Berlin, under Alessandro De Marchi. But despite the good synergy between director and conductor and a first-rate vocal ensemble, the production falls somewhat flat.

Swedish soprano Malin Byström returns to Sir David McVicar's production at Covent Garden, where she is now probably unsurpassed in the role, vocally and histrionically.

Set in a 1930s music school, Sergio Morabito, Jossi Wieler and Anna Viebrick's new production of Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg at Deutsche Oper Berlin has some inspirational ideas but they often get in the way of the music.