Performer: Noa Naamat

Finnish National Opera and Ballet’s season opens with an earthy new production of Verdi's perennial favourite, Aida, given a contemporary setting where even the victors suffer. 

Questionable conducting aside, The Royal Opera's latest revival of Damiano Michieletto’s fluid production of the famous operatic double-bill is terrifically executed by two excellent casts.

With more cast reshuffles than in Downing Street of late, this revival of Damiano Michieletto's intertwined Cavalleria rusticana and Pagliacci double bill triumphs against the odds.

To mark the 150th anniversary of the composer's death, Sir John Eliot Gardiner conducts the opera charting the escapades of the Italian goldsmith and sculptor. 

The young singers spin any raw material into opera gold, sending the audience home as uplifted as if they’d just glugged a bellyful of Pimm’s.

A post-mortem fantasy that’s as compelling as it is confusing.