Matthew Durkan

When a fairy king quarrels with his queen over a young changeling, he orders his servant, a mischievous sprite, to play a prank on her with hilarious consequences. Adapting Shakespeare’s classic comedy of confused identities, bewildered lovers and a startling metamorphosis, Britten’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream comprises the composer’s perhaps most atmospheric score. An entrancing orchestration of instrumental colours breathes life into a magic wood setting the scene for a mysterious dream world.

The Barber of Seville (in Italian Il barbiere di Siviglia) is an opera in four acts by Italian composer Gioachino Rossini. Despite a disastrous opening night – the music teacher tripped over and had a prolonged nosebleed and an unexpected cat wandered on stage – it has gone on to be ‘perhaps the greatest of all comic operas’. Indeed, Rossini himself stayed at home for the second night, until he was awoken by the sound of applause and cheering and his opera has delighted audiences ever since. Based on a play called Le Barbier de Séville by French playwright Pierre Beaumarchais, this is the first of three plays about a character called Figaro. His second play, Le Mariage de Figaro, was the inspiration for another opera – The Marriage of Figaro by Austrian composer Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. Rossini’s The Barber of Seville, therefore, is considered a prequel to the story of Mozart’s opera, although it was composed 30 years later.