Steel gates filling the entire proscenium arch, menacing look-out towers and the penetrating glare of surveillance flood lights leaves the audience in no doubt that Leos Janacek’s gloom-laden final opera is set in the grimmest of prisons.

Production director John Fulljames could have afforded to let in just a few more shafts of light without diluting the harrowing impact of his staging of one of the 20th century’s most gripping pieces of music theatre.

This opera has an alternative ending in which all of the prisoners are set free. Fulljames has chosen the ending in which only the Russian nobleman Goryanchikov is freed.

Another shaft of light – and a symbol of hope – concerns a captured eagle with an injured wing; the bird is cared for and released by the prisoners. In this production, the eagle is a man with wings tattooed on his upper-body.

One of the haunting images at the very end of the opera shows the eagle (portrayed by the athletic and very bird-like Philippe Giraudeau) attempting to scale the gates before being dragged down and beaten by the guards.

These artistic decisions are controversial, not least because Janacek’s final chorus is optimistic. Beyond a shred of controversy, however, are the performances of a flawless cast led by Jeffrey Lloyd-Roberts as Luka, Richard Morrison (standing in for an injured Roderick Williams) as Goryanchikov, Robert Hayward as Shishkov, Alan Oke as Skuratov and Claire Wild as the Tartar boy, Alyeya.

Just as important is the role of the chorus – it is as much of a character in the unfolding drama as are the soloists. The tenors and basses of the resplendent Chorus of Opera North create vivid characterisations and sing with febrile intensity, while the rugged power of the Orchestra of Opera North is impeccably balanced by textures that match the transparency and delicacy of chamber music.

The production is wonderfully-integrated by Richard Farnes’s conducting. He miraculously reveals every nuance of the episodic character of Janacek’s final operatic masterpiece.

There are only two more Leeds performances today and Saturday before the production goes on tour.