Performer: Yves Abel

Sara Blanch's Covent Garden debut, together with Juan Diego Flórez on top form, lead a fizzing revival of La fille du régiment from Royal Opera.

Amy Lane’s production of Gounod’s Roméo et Juliette at the COC is eye-catching and enjoyable but doesn’t offer the same level of insight as her Faust last season. 

Pet Halmen’s 2003 production of Puccini's unfinished final opera places asks more riddles than Turandot's quiz questions to her would-be suitors. 

Rossini's Otello is rarely performed, mainly due to its three demanding tenor roles, but the Rossini Opera Festival delivers a knockout, both vocally and emotionally. 

This production brought the work into the 21st century, at least visually, with a more modernised and digitally-stylised telling than their recent attempts.

The Rossini Opera Festival stages a new production of the most famous of Rossini’s masterpieces to celebrate the composer in the 150th anniversary of his death.