Performer: Enrique Mazzola

Gershwin's opera proves the absolute highlight at Musikfest Berlin, thanks to a tight-knit cast led by Siyabulela Ntlale and Nonhlanhla Yende.

At the Staatsoper Unter den Linden, Rafael R Villalobos addresses the problems he perceives with Verdi’s Un ballo in maschera, although the musical performances – led by Anna Netrebko – compensate.

Lyric Opera of Chicago's production of Missy Mazzoli's opera, which the company co-commissioned, has strong, dramatic, expressive music throughout, but the story lacks continuity. 

When does opera direction go too far? Marie-Ève Signeyrole provides the answers in her tasteless, explicit staging of Verdi's Macbeth in Berlin. 

Through brilliant singing and layered acting, Javier Camarena, Mané Galoyan, and Igor Golovatenko drive a Rigoletto to warm a traditionalist's heart. 

At the Bregenz Festival, director Philpp Stölzl gives us a radical updating of the classic, with an interpretation many miles away from Weber.

Deutsche Oper Berlin is staging three Meyerbeer operas in three days. We talk to Enrique Mazzola, the conductor of two of them, about the composer, his work and these performances.