Swanhunter is ingeniously scored for a cast of six singers. They are accompanied by a six-part band, which, as Dove explains, includes several instruments ‘you might expect to hear at a dance, like a ceilidh’. Dove and Middleton have made their opera a celebration of the power of song, through the magic spells sung by the hero and in the glorious coloratura writing for the Swan. Designed with a cross-generational audience in mind, Swanhunter is an ideal introduction to opera.

The production opens at the Linbury Studio, ROH and then performs in the Howard Assembly Room, Leeds followed by a regional tour.