Perhaps more than any other art form, opera pushes the boundaries between the visual and the aural. What is seen informs what is heard and the ability of a performer to fill a role is often as much a question of costume as it is of voice. So who then, is responsible for the “look” of a performance?

For this backstage profile, Kate Laycock invites the Polish-Italian set and costume designer Gilberto Giardini to step out from the shadows and give us a glimpse of his music-filled world of pictures.