István Kertész (conductor) "Fidelio" and "La bohème". In March 1960, Kertész was invited to become General Music Director of the Augsburg Opera—a post especially created for him. There he conducted performances of Mozart's "The Magic Flute", "The Abduction from the Seraglio", "Così fan tutte", and "The Marriage of Figaro", earning himself a reputation as one of the finest interpreters of Mozart's work. With exhilarating performances of Verdi's "Rigoletto", "Don Carlos", "Otello" and "Falstaff", and Richard Strauss's "Salome", "Arabella", and "Der Rosenkavalier", Kertész also proved himself a master of the finest of Italian Romantic operas. Invited to the Salzburg Festival, he conducted "The Abduction
Stefanos Lazaridis Nightingale". He attracted attention for his designs for Antony Tudor's "Knight Errant" for the Royal Ballet's touring company in 1968, and was invited to design a new production of "Carmen" for the director John Copley at Sadler's Wells Opera in 1970. Lazaridis's early designs were naturalistic and lavish, and suited Copley's approach to production. They worked together both at English National Opera (ENO) ("The Seraglio", 1971, "Il trovatore", 1972) and Covent Garden ("Le nozze di Figaro", 1971, "Don Giovanni", 1973). In the 1980s, Lazaridis worked a great deal with David Pountney at ENO. His design style moved away from opulent