Performer: Roland Edrich

Massenet’s take on Goethe’s blockbuster novella of unrequited love and suicide is handled with great subtlety by Christof Loy and Marc Leroy-Calatayud. Benjamin Bernheim and Marina Viotti lead a starry vocal cast.

Benedikt von Peter's new staging of Bach's St Matthew Passion premieres at the Deutsche Oper Berlin, under Alessandro De Marchi. But despite the good synergy between director and conductor and a first-rate vocal ensemble, the production falls somewhat flat.

With an unsurpassed cast, devoted conducting and a brilliantly imaginative staging, the Bavarian State Opera's new production of Korngold's Die tote Stadt is a triumph.