Jürgen Flimm’s haunting production of Beethoven’s only opera brings the work’s desperate plea for freedom and justice into the modern era, reminding us just how powerful and urgent its story is. Under James Levine’s passionate leadership, Beethoven’s score blazes, as does the superb cast. Karita Mattila is Leonore, the faithful wife who disguises herself as a man to search for her husband Florestan (Ben Heppner), unjustly imprisoned by his political enemy, Pizarro (Falk Struckmann). René Pape is Rocco, the jailor caught between conscience and duty. Performance date: October 28, 2000.