Performer: Idunnu Münch

Digital projections make Opera Ballet Vlaanderen’s Parsifal seem alienating and strange, but the singing is terrific and the orchestra sounds sensational.

Director Milos Rau, composer Hèctor Parra and librettist Fiston Mwanza Mujila put the operatic spotlight on the fight for justice after a mining disaster in the DRC, with mixed results.

Two short choral works and a Bach double violin concerto introduce Schubert’s neglected masterpiece, his Mass in A flat major. 

Blue could hardly have been better rendered than here. Indeed, I wish every opera I see could be staged with such grace and finesse. 

Martyn Brabbins conducts an excellent ENO orchestra and consistently good ensemble cast as Richard Jones delivers a wealth of narrative detail to introduce Wagner's Ring.

Breastplates are back in vogue, but comedy horses and cheap production values undermine the first chapter in English National Opera's new Ring cycle.