Did beauty really kill the beast? Enter the World of Shadows: a land beyond the living where the inhabitants are obsessed with King Kong. But the giant ape never lived, so how can he die? The painter Vermeer, his most famous model, a movie mogul and the demigod Orpheus all have a part to play, as composer Harrison Birtwistle and librettist Russell Hoban tip the whole of western culture into the blender. The result was The Second Mrs Kong - an opera like nothing else in British music.

Utterly bizarre and gloriously entertaining, it’s been described as “hypnotically beautiful”, but performances have been rare since its world premiere in 1994. With Martyn Brabbins conducting an all-star cast, you won’t want to miss this one.