All eyes in the village are on Jenůfa. Her fiancé sees only a trophy wife. Her rejected suitor sees a chance to avenge the most cutting wrongs in his past. Her righteous stepmother sees her own life’s tragedy about to play out again for her child. The results are two unspeakable crimes which lead to the opera’s unlikely theme—that the wounds of troubled lives can be assuaged through acceptance, forgiveness, and hope. Janáček’s music pulses with vibrant rhythms, pungent harmonies, and lyrical declamation.

Forget about magic beans and bowls of porridge—this fairy tale is a “down-to-the-wire” thriller, inspired by the Brothers Grimm. A paranoid king banishes his twelve sons in favor of Lyra, the thirteenth child. When Princess Lyra learns about her long-lost brothers, she embarks on a quest to find them. Like all the best fairy tales, it has an enchanted forest, riddles, a handsome prince, a horrible mistake, and a nearly impossible feat for Princess Lyra to perform if everything is to be put right.

Young and poor and consumed with love, six Bohemians lead “charming and terrible lives” in 19th-century Paris. Living in Latin Quarter garrets, furnished mostly with hope for the future. Strolling medieval streets crowded with toy vendors, fruit sellers, street urchins and military bands. They fraternize with famous writers and artists at the Café Momus and find their places in a rapidly changing society. They taste the freedom and perils of a freelance economy, and brave epidemics of passion and jealousy, sorrow, and loss.