The Opera 101

Opera for Everyone

Whatever you've been told -- opera isn't hard or intimidating. Here we have only one rule: Enjoy yourself! Opera's a world filled with drama and excitement. We hope you come to love it as much as we do!

We created The Opera 101 to provide guides to various operas, composers and opera houses to enrich your experience of going to the opera. In practice, the best way to get started is to go see an opera! We know that can be intimidating, so check out this brief article with some reassuring answers to the most common questions (such as do you have to get dressed up).

Once you’ve seen a few operas, the experience can be enhanced by knowing a bit more about the context surrounding them, especially as so many were written in very different historical and global environments than we witness them in today. Opera’s for everyone, and we hope you’ll find exploring the stories and the stories behind the stories as fun as we do!