Performer: Christina Gansch

This revival of Kratzer’s production forces the audience to confront where personal responsibility starts and stops for acting under a tyrannical regime, while bringing Beethoven’s only opera to life – with a few twists.

While the semi-staging falters, Hanna-Elisabeth Müller and Magdalena Kožená prove a thrilling pair in Mozart's final opera seria. 

A pared back production is required in these Covid times: as little physical contact as possible, no chorus on stage, and tempi brisk and alert to keep the audience in the house for as short a time as possible. 

The BBC Symphony Orchestra in exceptionally fine form under Semyon Bychkov explore the links from Schubert to Mahler and the present-day Glanert.

The evening’s most revelatory performance came from the young countertenor Aryeh Nussbaum Cohen as Medoro. 

Designer/director Antony McDonald treads a perfectly weighted path between light and dark of the fairytale; conductor Sebastian Weigle cooks up a Wagnerian storm; Michaela Schuster steals the show. A treat.