The Magic Flute is often presented as a fairy tale about finding one’s way through the opposing forces of Good and Evil. Mozart’s last opera relates the trials and tribulations of two opposing yet complementary couples - Tamino and Pamina and Papageno and Papagena - who, in their search for love, journey through darkness to reach light and happiness.

One of Mozart's best known arias is surely 'Madamina il catalogo e questo', commonly known as the Catalogue aria. In a light-hearted tone accompanied by twittering flutes, Leporello describes his master’s endless (and possibly unsuccessful) sexual exploits to the unfortunate Donna Elvira.

Bellini, by dint of his name and inclination, is the essence of bel canto. Those two words are simply the Italian for ‘beautiful singing’, and may be applied to any style or period, but it has become customary to use them to describe Italian opera of the first part of the 19th century, the primo ottocento.

In Mozart’s time, performers did not shy away from modifying operas, swapping arias, skipping boring or technically challenging sections and touching up the libretto. The notion of an original, authentic work of art is a modern invention. The Finnish National Opera’s 2020 production throws such scruples overboard and radically updates Così fan tutte. The result is a satirical look at the experience of the coronavirus outbreak in Finland in the spring.

If the origin of the character is certainly much more misogynist than feminist - the myth of the cold, cruel and castrating woman akin to the ‘witches’ persecuted en masse during the Renaissance -, Turandot is no shrinking violet but a resolutely independent and powerful character.