Mozart, Puccini, Wagner, Britten, Barber, and more are the featured players in the invaluable reference book for opera lovers, whose numbers are climbing as the art enjoys a renaissance in the public imagination.Joyce Bourne takes us on a compelling tour de force of 400 years of the world's great operas providing biographies for every important composer and synopses for each of their key works. She also covers the singers whose performances have made music history, the festivals that showcase both standard repertory and groundbreaking new works, the stages, the scenery and even the buildings that make opera such a thrilling art form.With opera attendance climbing, this timely book, "will make your opera an even more exciting, engrossing and fabulous experience." (World famous bass-baritone Bryn Terfel, from the foreword.)" Read Less