Performer: Leslie Travers

Opera North dips a toe into the murky pond of ‘director’s theatre’, but sadly, theirs is a concept from the shallow end that barely wets its ankles. 

Classy singing from a young cast fits the low-key radicalism of Sir David Pountney’s staging

Jo Davies’ 2016 staging is revived at the Theatre in the Woods, given a bold execution, led by a regal Elisabetta. 

Finnish National Opera premieres an emotionally diffuse interpretation of the Karl Ove Knausgård’s novel The Morning Star, with Swedish libretto by Gunilla Hemming and direction by Thomas de Mallet Burgess. 

Ruth Knight untangles Handel's Rodelinda, directing a new staging at Garsington which features a feast of fine singing. 

Bruno Ravella's production features excellent singing from its principals in Dublin, but it is Sinéad Campbell-Wallace who shines as the eponymous heroine.