Performer: Enrique Mazzola

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. 

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.