Performer: Laurent Naouri

Mozart's Requiem packs in the crowd, but it's Berg's Violin Concerto with Carolin Widmann that really finds the spiritual depth.

Director Johannes Erath and conductor Alexander Soddy bring György Kurtág's first and only opera to the Staatsoper Unter den Linden, starting the year with a dash of Beckett.

John Dexter's production, now among the longest-serving in the company's repertory, remains a marvel of simple, effective storytelling.