One hell of a way to make a Royal Opera debut

Russian soprano Ekaterina Bakanova stepped in to sing Violetta at Covent Garden with only hours’ notice, and gave the performance of her lifeThere are always advantages to seeing a show at the end of its run rather than the opening night: the cast are on top of their vocal performances and their dramatic relationships, and with first-night anxieties out of the way, the musical co-ordination between orchestra pit and stage has had time to refine and relax.Which is what we in the audience might