Performer: Raphaël Pichon

A wonderful performance of a hitherto little known 17th-century version of the Orpheus legend is performed by Raphaël Pichon and Pygmalion at the Adelaide Festival. 

It is hard to imagine a better performance of Monteverdi's Vespers of 1610 than this one by the French ensemble Pygmalion under the direction of Raphaël Pichon. 

The French ensemble Pygmalion enraptures the audience at the first night of the Adelaide Festival with a concert of music by JS Bach and his predecessors.

Tight orchestral playing, minimalist stage design: the conductor and director are perfectly in tune with each other, transforming Massenet's work into an intimate and timeless drama.

The French conductor pairs Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony with several of the composer’s more obscure miniatures, performed alongside thematically related poetry.

Martin Kušej gives Mozart and Da Ponte's commedia per musica a sinister mafia setting, which is low on laughs but outstandingly performed, led by Lea Desandre's charismatic Cherubino.