Performer: Antonello Manacorda

With gloriously inventive sets and costumes, Alex Esposito’s splendid Four Villains drive a wonderfully entertaining new production.

Aigul Akhmetshina is outstanding in the title role, hearing Piotr Beczała is a privilege, but it's Damiano Michieletto's new staging that takes the honours.

Not all expectations were fulfilled in this concert by the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment. Isabelle Faust made a strong case for Schumann's Violin Concerto, whereas Antonello Manacorda adopted a paint-stripping approach to both overture and symphony.