Read expert-written show guides with context, plot, characters and video examples.
La liberazione di Ruggiero dall’isola d’Alcina
Following the myths of the knight Ruggiero from Ariosto's Orlando Furioso, this opera is set on and...
Orfeo ed Euridice
According to the legend, Orpheus was famous with the Gods for his incredible singing ability and hi...
Parsifal
The legend of the Holy Grail is one that has had many retellings. The Holy Grail is an important sym...
Peter Grimes
The tragic story of Peter Grimes revolves around the tormented title character, a fisherman who find...
Pyramus and Thisbe
Originally taken from Ovid’s Metamorphoses and transplanted by a group of rustic ‘Mechanicals’ into...
Semele
Semele’s father, the King of Thebes, has arranged a marriage for her with Athamas, a Prince of Boeot...
La serva padrona
Considered by many to be the first example of opera buffa, Pergolesi’s short opera La serva padrona...
Siegfried
In the third installment of Wagner’s Der Ring des Nibelungen we meet our hero Siegfried, the son of...
Street Scene
The claustrophobic reality of living in a six-storey walk-up in the Lower East Side of Manhattan is...
Susannah
A dark twist on the apocryphal story of Susannah and the Elders, Carlisle Floyd’s Susannah is one of...
The Tender Land
In the American heartland during the Great Depression, the provincial existence of a rural farming f...
Un ballo in maschera
Un Ballo in Maschera follows the story of the assassination of King Gustavo III of Sweden. Gustavo i...
