Ariadne auf Naxos dismantled at the Salzburg Festival

Norwegian soprano Lise Davidsen returns to Sven-Eric Bechtolf's lean but polished production with an outstanding cast, outstandingly conducted. 

The leafy parks and cobbled streets of Riga’s old town are far removed from the intense heat of the little village in the Basque Country in which Donizetti set his L'elisir d'amore, but a new production at the Latvian National Opera captures much of the spirit of the work, adroitly balancing comedy with the joys and pain of love.

Sven-Erich Bechtolf's staging of Wagner's Ring returns with Franz Welser-Möst at the helm for the final time, having recently announced his retirement of the cycle from his repertoire. 

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.