Performer: Michael Bauer

Dressed in white, with an origami swan in his hand, Robert Alagna's Lohengrin is less a Grail knight than an absent-minded daydreamer.

An outstanding role debut from Davidsen, a star-studded vocal cast and a revelatory orchestral performance make a Beethoven anniversary performance to savour.

Verdi and Schiller lose out to Barbora Horáková in a new staging for English National Opera. 

Barenboim conducts Otto Nicolai's Falstaff opera with a warmth and affection that is sorely lacking on stage. 

The lack of shock value in Calixto Bieito’s interpretation of Wagner's Tannhäuser premiering at the Vlaamse Opera in Ghent could almost be seen as a disappointment. All the more surprising then was the romantic intimacy created in this superlatively sung production.

Andreas Kriegenburg inszeniert Hans Abrahamsens Oper als erstaunlich schlüssiges Beziehungsdrama aus der Psychiatrie.