Comedy and tragedy collide when a wealthy patron commissions two entertainments for his guests – one a knockabout comedy, the other a high-flown mythological opera. Chaos erupts when, at the last minute, both companies are instructed to perform their pieces simultaneously.

All sides of Strauss’s musical personality – comic, heroic and romantic – are on glorious display in this sumptuous confection. Director Rodula Gaitanou locates the action in a Fellini-esque Italian film studio in a production that won high praise when it was first seen in Gothenburg in 2018.