Performer: Dan Paul Dumitrescu

It may be on its 663rd outing, but Margarethe Wallmann's Tosca is a classic for a reason, as proved in this outstanding performance at the Wiener Staatsoper. 

At 70 years old, American tenor Gregory Kunde makes a magnificent role debut as Captain Vere, with a strong ensemble of singers, chorus, and orchestra in Willy Decker's effective production.

The first premiere of the new Staatsoper season is a qualified success, led by Eleanora Buratto's superb Suor Angelica and Ambrogio Maestri's masterly Gianni Schicchi in Puccini's triptych of one-act operas. 

That Boris was sung by a Ukrainian in times like this might or might not have been a coincidence. But that Alexander Tsymbalyuk was an excellent choice for the role is indisputable. 

Amartuvshin Enkhbat and María José Siri spar as father and daughter in Günter Krämer's tired production of Verdi's biblical epic.