A new production of 'Der Schatzgräber' at the Deutsche Oper, was brought to life by director Christof Loy and conductor Marc Albrecht, the team who, in 2018, turned Korngold’s 'Das Wunder der Heliane' into both a surprise success and perhaps the most rewarding instalment in the Deutsche Oper’s ongoing series of early twentieth century ‘rediscoveries.’

Masterpieces are rare, and masterpieces built on the foundation of other masterpieces are even less common.With ‘Fin de Partie’, however, Kurtág has come very close

The new production of Don Giovanni at the Staatsoper Unter den Linden has a magnificent cast.The quality of the performances, however, must be weighed against that of the staging.

'Les Vêpres Siciliennes' allowed Mr Py to present a vast canvas of oppression and resistance.With the addition of several great vocal performances and the taut musical direction of Enrique Mazzola, the production turned Verdi’s most conspicuous attempt to adapt his style to Parisian tastes into an engaging spectacle

Mr Barenboim's reading, full of grand gestures and sudden intrusions, strove for the highest possible levels of drama and had little room for tidy formalities.The music that emerged was full of raw, rough edges, unsanded and unpolished, but burning with fresh heat from the cut.

Mr Dudamel’s Mahler is often brilliant – and invariably accessible – there have been moments in the past where it has all seemed a bit too tidy.For his recent performance of the Second, however, he delivered a reading in which the moment-to-moment thrill of bringing the music to life eclipsed any hint of mannerism.

Many of Janáček’s later operas deal broadly with the theme of redemption, but the routes they take to get there are remarkably diverse, from bleak brutality to gentle comedy.

There is always the danger that new productions will simply coast on the charm of the music without bothering to make a strong case for the continued relevance of the story

While Ersan Mondtag’s visually provocative staging often seemed too eager to steal the spotlight, it was the majesty of Langgaard’s unique score that made for a memorable, often captivating evening

Given director Stefan Herheim’s previous successes in realising the most conspicuously magical episodes of Rheingold and delineating the subtle character drama of Walküre, one had high hopes that he might even be able to pull off the impossible task of creating a Siegfried that didn’t drag in its opening acts.