Performer: Valentina Naforniţă

Young voices shine in Tchaikovsky's last opera in a new and rustic updating by Moldovan director Slava Sambriș. 

For the 84th edition of its summer festival, the Teatro del Maggio Musicale Fiorentino presents its first ever production of Gounod's Roméo et Juliette.

Sven-Eric Bechtolf's staging holds a balance between philosophy and humour, but Adam Fischer's vivacious conducting is the real star of the evening.

Contrasting sensations at the Liceu, where the audience punished a production of La bohème with boos and gave rapturous applause to a cast that performed at half throttle.

Countertenor Lawrence Zazzo is more than at home in the role of Oberon, and possesses a vocal quality ideal for the scheming king of the fairies, simultaneously eerie and seductive.

Jean-Louis Martinoty’s scenically seductive Don Giovanni comes as a welcome relief from recent Regietheater aberrations.