Performer: Nikolay Borchev

In a concert performance at the Berlin Philharmonie, conductor René Jacobs gives his own – thrilling – take on Monteverdi's L'Orfeo.

There is magic aplenty in director Stefan Herheim’s bold recontextualization of Gian Carlo Menotti's holiday opera. 

The final day of Oxford Lieder's 80-event festival was framed by two recitals taking us from the world of German folklore andDes Knaben Wunderhorn, to the pain and drama of romantic entanglements. 

Herheim pulls us in unexpected directions, makes us laugh and makes us think as we enjoy fine Rossinian music and singing in Opéra de Lyon's production.

Though straightforward in concept, Oper Köln's production of the one-act opera written in the Theresienstadt concentration camp brought the opera's profound themes to the surface in an excellently sung performance.

Barrie Kosky’s clever direction enlivens a Strauss rarity at the Bayerische Staatsoper but the minimalist stage setting sinks HMS Schweigsame Frau.