The singing and acting were very high class. The principal ladies—Sophie Junker as Poppea, Lucia Martin Cartón as Drusilla/Fortuna, Juliette Mey as Amore/Valetto and especially the super dramatic Mariana Flores as Ottavia/Virtu—were uniformly excellent. Countertenor Nicolò Balducci was perfect as Nerone. He combined strong singing with a real ability to convey the utter immorality and irritable unpredictability of the unhinged emperor. He was well backed up by another countertenor, Christopher Lowrey, as a very sympathetic Ottone and a really splendid display of proper bass singing by Edward Grint as Seneca. All the minor roles were handled well. Fittingly, the evening closed out with a ravishing version of the gorgeous duet “Pur ti miro.”