Tosca

In a present-day Rome torn apart by war, the singer Floria Tosca and the painter Mario Cavaradossi live for each other and for their art. When Cavaradossi helps an escaped political prisoner, the couple fall foul of Baron Scarpia, the city's ruthless Chief of Police. With her lover arrested and tortured, Tosca is offered a brutal bargain: give herself to Scarpia to save the man she loves. Puccini's opera is sung in Italian with English surtitles.

This revival of Oliver Mears's production for the Royal Opera House is conducted by Daniel Oren, known for his work in the Italian repertoire. Polish soprano Aleksandra Kurzak, who has sung at the Metropolitan Opera and the Vienna State Opera, takes the title role, with Albanian tenor Saimir Pirgu as Cavaradossi and British baritone Christopher Maltman as Scarpia. Tosca sets a story of love, power and sacrifice in a modern city at war, carried by some of Puccini's best-known music.