I wish I could say the same of the Das Liebesverbot concert performance that evening. This had the disadvantage of taking place in vast space of the Gewandhaus across the square from the opera house. The singers stood in a line across the front of the stage, their scores on music stands, and there was little dramatic interaction among them. All this might have been remedied by committed singing but this was hardly the case. The key role of Friedrich, the hypocrite who enforces the ban on love, was lamely sung by Morten Frank Larsen, and in the important soprano role of Isabella, who attempts to save her brother Claudio from Friedrich’s edict, Melanie Diener had problems with some top notes. Some of the other roles were quite well sung (Benjamin Bruns as Claudio, Bernhard Berchtold as Luzio, and Anna Gabler as Mariana) but charismatic conductor Kristjan Järvi failed to convince that the MDR Sinfonieorchester could rival the venue’s own Gewandhaus Orchestra.