Performer: Enrique Mazzola

Christof Loy would seem to be the perfect director for Covid-era opera, his stripped back production of Verdi's rare middle period opera directed remotely from Austria.

In widescreen and under dramatic lighting, the London Philharmonic Orchestra gives gripping performances of music by Missy Mazzoli and Sibelius. 

Enrique Mazzola conducts an intriguing combination of a French work and a Russian work with a French title focusing on turn-of-the-century France.

Meyerbeer's tale of the Anabaptist rebellion in the 16th-century religious wars proves to be a powerful thriller, with Clémentine Margaine and Gregory Kunde leading a very strong singing cast.

The Salzburg Festival's production of Offenbach's Orpheus in the Underworld is another classic in the making from Barrie Kosky.

Here was the much-loved three-act opera Rigoletto, yes, but chances are, it was one far beyond Verdi’s wildest dreams.