It’s no secret that Andris Nelsons is parting ways with the Boston Symphony Orchestra, and not by choice. Many constituents inside the institution and out have made known their extreme displeasure. But his tenure as music director continues through the end of the 2027 Tanglewood season, and his work continues in its established fashion. Opera in concert has been a Nelsons mainstay—but opera free of the costly, elaborate trappings that can turn semi- or fully staged concert-hall events into newsmakers and audience-builders. The argument over which comes first in opera—words or music—is as old as the art form itself. But that’s no longer the question. No disrespect to the arts of the theater, but is it the fusion of music and words that comes first or all the froufrou? Okay, I’ve tipped my hand. Nelsons, too, seems to favor “pure” realization of the drama as set down by the composer. So that’s what he’s offering with The Marriage of Figaro, by universal consent one of the crown jewels of the genre. The female principals are an especially promising lot, with Hanna-Elisabeth Müller as the Countess, Nikola Hillebrand as her indispensable maid Susanna, and Emily D’Angelo as Cherubino, the “butterfly” pageboy who flits from one to the other and anyone else in skirts. Susan Graham, long a reigning Cherubino, returns as Marcellina, a domestic with the game-changing secret. Michael Sumuel is Figaro, the former factotum of Seville, now the plaything of his bride Susanna, arguably a wilier customer than he. Joshua Hopkins appears as Figaro’s employer, the Count, who coasts on privilege, or tries to. —Matthew Gurewitsch