Opera is one of the most exciting and complex art forms, combining theater, orchestra, staging, costume, acting, singing, dancing, and everything else associated with musical drama. For over 400 years, composers have created operatic masterpieces that have thrilled audiences around the world. Explore the stories, characters and music of the following operas with Robert W. Butts, one of New Jersey's leading opera conductors: 

• Idomeneo (Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart),
• Der Freischütz (Carl Maria von Weber)
• Tannhauser (Richard Wagner)
• un ballo in maschera (Giuseppe Verdi)
• Carmen (Georges Bizet)