Venue: Opera Vlaanderen, Ghent

Two very diverse works that complement each other and show off the depth of talent within Opera Ballet Vlaanderen.

A challenging work about birth, death and rebirth, superbly danced and thought provoking.

Opera Ballet Vlaanderen are offering up the ultimate antidote to frothy Christmas traditions with an original double bill featuring two premieres.

This is a contrasting double bill – but don’t go expecting to leave the theatre humming the tunes.

Enea Scala and Rihab Chaieb impress in a concert performance of Massenet's Werther in Ghent. 

An operatic deconstruction of La Bayadère in Ghent that has ingenuity and flair but is also over-stretched.

Rimsky-Korsakov’s opera is rarely performed outside Russia. Sadly, I doubt that Daniel Kramer’s staging for Opera Vlaanderen will win it many new friends.

The lack of shock value in Calixto Bieito’s interpretation of Wagner's Tannhäuser premiering at the Vlaamse Opera in Ghent could almost be seen as a disappointment. All the more surprising then was the romantic intimacy created in this superlatively sung production.