Performer: Dieter Richter

Darmstadt's Flying Dutchman was a gripping Romantic ghost story with a stong Senta in Astrid Weber. 

Hindemith's opera, based on the life and theories of Johannes Kepler, is impressively realised by the Landestheater

Christian von Götz's production doesn't all work, but he makes a viable, thought-provoking and entertaining show out of Weber's spooky classic.

A well-sung revival of a witty and supremely theatrical production of Strauss’ operatic exposé.

Since 2013 marks a Verdi anniversary, the Viennese have been treated to two new productions of Il trovatore: Philipp Stölzl’s pacey, offbeat deconstruction that will open in Berlin next week, and this Volksoper co-production with the Theater Bonn where the curtain goes down after every scene.

Under the headline “Why Lortzing?”, the evening’s programme lists 20 reasons by Lortzing biographer Jürgen Lodemann why this composer should not be forgotten, including the fact that Lortzing’s operas were the most-performed in Germany for about 150 years.