Albert Herring, Royal College of Music, London <br></br>The Turn of the Screw, Royal Northern College of Music, Manchester

Baptism of fire whizzes into life

Sir Thomas Allen claims an affinity for East Anglia – and not because of some youthful brush with the Saxmundham constabulary: "It's the North Sea connection," he suggests. Allen hails from the North-east, home to Sunderland FC, Sir Bobby Robson and the Angel of the North. His 1950s trysts with Mr Veitch, suit-fitter in the Seaham Branch of the Ryhope and Sicksworth Co-operative Society, gave him the neo-Edwardian credentials to stage Britten's Maupassant-based comic opera; our legendary Don Giovanni has just made his directorial debut with Herring at the Royal College of Music. And a damned fine job he made of it.

True, Allen's ingenuity fell just short of another fine baritone, Benjamin Luxon, who staged La Serva Padrona so brilliantly for Broomhill Opera. Eric Crozier's characters remain cardboard cutouts. But Sir Tom's team management is flawless; the joy of this Albert Herring was its crystal clarity. He has a knack of getting the right character front of proscenium for their key moment, shielding them in reserve until a second before. How many directors have the same nous?

Albert Herring is studded with vignettes: the affable mayor (Andrew Kennedy), the beaming vicar (Shannon Chad Foley), the fretful mum (Jennifer Johnston: nice voice, but overacting); the impossible Lady Billows (Claire Surman, ditto). Best in my book were the splendid bass, Sion Goronwy, as the policeman who first floats Albert as May King; the spirited Sid of Jared Holt; Miriam Ryen's enthusiastic schoolteacher; and Kennedy's pipe-puffing mayor (time, surely, for a Sherlock Holmes opera). The conductor Michael Rosewell's ensembles came whizzingly alive. Robert Murray's Albert ("Pretty name, Nancy") capped the lot : terrific singing and canny, stylish underacting; those panicky sidelong glances got Albert's age right; his baptism of fire was utterly credible. A super performance.

Kennedy, when a Durham chorister, once sang Miles, a bouncy blob of a performance, in The Turn of the Screw at Harrogate. The Royal Northern College used its new studio for Stefan Janski's strikingly direct staging of Britten's eeriest opera. Clark Rundell conducted an RNCM ensemble that (from the opening woodwind, with astonishing timpani packed in an echoey alcove) gave you each note full-frontal.

Again, clarity was of the essence. What a difference it makes. Janski used this valuable space with tight economy. Sian Hodges, a tender, unbuxom Mrs Grose, clipped her notes out clearly; too often Britten's housekeeper emerges with a whoosh, battling in duet with the Governess; the female quartet here was superb. Philip Rowbottom's Miles – the voice (not the musicality) sounds just on the turn – was chock-full of stylish manner and intelligent gesture; Rebekah Coffey made a believable job of the problematic Flora; Alexander Grove (Quint), a voice also on the turn – from baritone to a very acceptable tenor – was a firmly Mephistophelean, not silky, Quint – finest in gravelly duet with Merryn Gamba's Miss Jessel. Like in Albert Herring, make-up and costumes had a field day. But the RNCM's true star was Elizabeth Donovan's Governess: a fabulously mature, hardworking and vocally riveting young singer.

Further performances: 'Herring', tonight (020-7591 4853); 'Screw', 6, 9 & 12 Dec (0161-907 5555)