Barrie Kosky directs Mozart: Le nozze di Figaro

In the second instalment of his Mozart/Da Ponte cycle for the Wiener Staatsoper, director Barrie Kosky brings the Almaviva household to life with characteristic panache. The opera's romance and intrigue play out in a colourful world of Rococo architecture and 1970s costumes, while Philippe Jordan conducts a musical performance that the Wiener Zeitung praised as "an ideal mixture of elegant lyricism and concentrated expression". Not even an offstage crisis could deter this production's dynamic young cast: as captured here, the all-important role of Susanna is shared virtuosically here between Ying Fang (acting on stage) and Maria Nazarova (singing from the pit) after Fang suffered a vocal cord haemorrhage shortly before the performance.