Performer: Sandrine Piau

Leonardo García-Alarcón's exhumation of Bembo's work proves a winner, in a hyper-quirky staging by Netia Jones with Julie Fuchs as the pick of the fine singers.

From Jakub Józef Orliński’s youthful radiance to Sandrine Piau’s sovereign mastery, this performance revives Baroque ecstasy through razor-sharp orchestration, muscular playing and inventive embellishments of unparalleled emotional depth.

The world premiere of Marc-André Dalbavie's Melancholie des Widerstands at the Staatsoper Unter den Linden marks the birth of a new genre – the film-opera – starring conductor Marie Jacquot and Philippe Jaroussky. 

One of Handel's lesser operas receives a deluxe concert performance at the Théâtre des Champs-Elysées in Paris, with Il Pomo d'Oro and a fine array of singers. 

Kaija Saariaho's opera – staged by Simon Stone and the hit of the 2021 Aix-en-Provence Festival – makes its UK debut.