How do music, plot, staging, action, dance and performance combine to produce meaning for an opera audience?

Taking a close look at Thomas Adès's The Tempest, Professor Edward Venn of the University of Leeds and choreographer and director Aletta Collins – who choreographed the opera's premiere in 2004 – explore the conversation between different elements in opera.

They also consider the notions of confinement and restricted movement in all three of Adès's operas: The Tempest, Powder Her Face (1995), and The Exterminating Angel (2016), which take on a new significance in the COVID-era.

Musical excerpts

Overture from The Tempest: Orchestra of the Royal Opera House conducted by Thomas Adès, from the 2009 EMI release The Tempest

‘Five Fathoms Deep’ from The Tempest: Cyndia Sieden with the Orchestra of the Royal Opera House conducted by Thomas Adès, from the 2009 EMI release The Tempest

Overture A Midsummer Night's Dream, London Symphony Orchestra conducted by Claudio Abbado, from the 1985 Deutsche Grammophon release Mendelssohn: 5 Symphonies / 7 Overtures

'When I Am Laid In Earth' from rehearsals for Opera North’s 2013 production of Purcell's Dido & Aeneas. Pamela Helen Stephen with the Orchestra of Opera North conducted by Wyn Davies

‘Dov'è Minnie?’ from rehearsals for Opera North’s 2014 production of Puccini’s The Girl of the Golden West. Bonaventura Bottone as Nick, Robert Hayward as Jack Rance and the Orchestra and Chorus of Opera North conducted by Richard Farnes