Performer: David DQ Lee

Nigel Lowery’s new production at Prague State Opera is a gusher of ideas, starting as slapstick but profoundly moving by the end.

Propora's Mitridate at Schloss Schwetzingen lacks dramatic sense (blame librettist Cibber and director Spirei). But exciting music strongly delivered makes a case for more Porpora in the repertoire.

The auditorium's lights flared up, drawing a blinking audience back into the room. The fourth wall was well and truly broken, and each of us was given no option but to acknowledge our responsibility for the planet.