Performer: Benjamin Bernheim

The two French singers convince in a programme including French late Romantics, Richard Strauss and a Verdi world premiere!

The Staatsoper Unter den Linden revives a successful, romantic production by Lindy Hume, with Eleonora Buratto and Benjamin Bernheim as the protagonists.

Andreas Homoki’s new Zurich production capitalises on some quirky staging, but features superb voices in its principal roles and shows the best of the house’s joint choirs.

An evening of three Italian opera composers on the concert platform, crowned with a glowing performance of Puccini's rarely heard Messa di Gloria.

On her house debut, in Covent Garden's second cast of the year, Angel Blue is completely convincing as Verdi's doomed courtesan; Benjamin Bernheim is an unconventional but compelling Alfredo; Simone Piazzola a persuasive Germont père.

Perhaps feeling that the drama and emotion of the Ring Cycle wasn't enough for one year, Antonio Pappano assembled a strong quartet and deployed the ROH's forces in a powerful, moving performance of Verdi's Messa da Requiem.