Performer: Boston Lyric Opera

Very few singers can hold an audience in the palm of their hand the way Brenda Rae as Marie does in this rollicking frolic. 

David Angus leads a taut, spirited performance, but Steve Maler’s staging of Verdi's first Shakespearean opera raises many questions. 

The composer's magnum opus, unjustly neglected in English-speaking countries, receives magnificent treatment from Andris Nelsons and the Boston Symphony Orchestra, anchored by David Butt Philip and Christine Goerke.