In one respect at least Rufus Norris' new ENO production of Don Giovanni might truthfully be described as electrifying.

Bel canto it isn't, but these Bulgarian voices have a rough, immutable beauty

For its first ever staging of Britten's chilling thriller The Turn of the Screw, Opera North has engaged a young director unafraid of piling on ghostly layers. As if Henry James's novella wasn't suggestive enough of sexual ambiguity and a sense of innocence corrupted, Alessandro Talevi freely adds his own often tangential ideas. The Governess's fevered imagination, and the stage too, is peopled with cavorting, wraith-like apparitions and fantastic tableaux often at odds with both plot and score. Instead of enhancing the visual and dramatic frisson between the haunters and the haunted they distract from the opera's musical and theatrical tensions, blurring the definition between the original 16 skilfully demarcated scenes.

Those who enjoy "new" works from old artistic masters are being rather spoiled at the moment. This week they have had a previously unpublished poem by Ted Hughes on the death of his wife, Sylvia Plath. Meanwhile, a lost concerto score by Vivaldi has turned up in Scotland.

Based in Cleveland, Ohio, the period-instruments orchestra Apollo's Fire was founded in 1992.

The Dutch Golden Age

René Jacobs ongoing coverage of the entire Mozart opera oeuvre continues with The Magic Flute, performed as usual with the RIAS Kammerchor and Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin.

They tell me that Jonathan Miller's production of Così Fan Tutte is coming up to its 16th revival at London's Royal Opera House. You may remember it as the one that became hijacked when a certain Giorgio Armani dressed it in that season's line. I have to report that my wardrobe this time, in the role of Don Alfonso, is in the very safe hands of a well-known firm of Savile Row tailors.

This was Norway's moment in the limelight: no surprise to find its indefatigable music ambassador – pianist Leif Ove Andsnes – leading the charge, attended by the Norwegian Chamber Orchestra.

This was Norway’s moment in the limelight: no surprise to find its indefatigable music ambassador - pianist Leif Ove Andnes - leading the charge, attended by the Norwegian Chamber Orchestra. And if the novelty they brought with them was created by a Dane, it had at least been inspired by Andsnes.

With a technicians’ strike looming, Proms director Roger Wright has enough on his plate, but here is a simpler challenge for him: to provide programmes for the Chamber Proms at the Cadogan Hall which don’t shamefully undersell them.

Hermitage Museum, St Petersburg

A career in television led to Katie Derham neglecting her childhood passion for the violin. Rediscovering it changed her life and even saw her playing to a live audience