Performer: Julia Hansen

What brought real distinction and authenticity to the evening, as so often in this house, was the outstanding playing of the Staatskapelle conducted by Tomaš Netopil. From the start of the overture with its rapidly scurrying fugato for strings and pointed phrasing from the woodwind one felt the true sense of Smetana’s Czech inflected rhythms and harmonies

Lisette Oropesa gives a coloratura star turn; Renato Girolami and Andrey Zhilikhovsky give the buffo patter; Mariame Clément's staging focuses on the work’s dark side.

Opera Vlaanderen revives a production of Handel's Agrippina based on American soap operas of the 1980s.

At the Theater an der Wien, director Mariame Clément and novelist Lucy Wadham have crafted innovative material that brings the old-fashioned lyrics to life in a coherent and contemporary dramatic setting.

Poor intelligibility and lack of pace in the music or acting make L'Étoile into a disappointingly flat evening.