Performer: Marina Prudenskaya

The latest, thrilling instalment of Barrie Kosky's Ring cycle at Covent Garden does not have to strain for contemporary relevance. 

Tobias Kratzer gives his third Strauss production in three seasons at Deutsche Oper Berlin another contemporary spin. 

The French director updates the action to the present day, underscoring the validity of the plot – feuding families and class differences are still relevant. 

With Claus Guth directing and Simone Young on the podium, the Staatsoper Unter den Linden's new production of Mussorgsky's Khovanshchina proves that the past isn't really past. 

The first instalment of Covent Garden's new Ring is excellent all round from orchestra and voices, with Barrie Kosky providing plenty of ideas to tease us as to how the cycle will continue. 

Soloists Klaus Florian Vogt, Christian Gerhaher, Amber Wagner and Marina Prudenskaya star in Act 3 of Tannhäuser.