Opera: Passion, Power and Politics

A spectacular and vivid journey through 400 years of operatic and European history, Opera: Passion, Power and Politics.

Shostakovich’s Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk, 1934, is explored in detail throughout the run of this V&A exhibition. Both avant-garde and propaganda material will be on display alongside a painting inspired by Shostakovich’s First Symphony by Pavel Filonov, rarely seen outside Russia.

From the Victoria and Albert Museum in collaboration with the Royal Opera House, this is the only exhibition to ever explore opera on a grand scale. Led by an exquisite sound experience, the exhibition immerses you in key moments in the history of opera from its roots in Renaissance Italy to today’s premieres. Working with opera specialists and theatre, lighting and sound designers, the V&A presents a unique, theatrical experience that will bring visitors to the heart of opera in the Museum’s stunning new Sainsbury Gallery.

Opera: Passion, Power and Politics focuses on seven operatic premieres in seven cities. It reveals how opera brings together multiple art forms to create a multi-sensory work of art, and shows how social, political, artistic and economic factors interact with great moments in the history of opera to tell a story of Europe over hundreds of years.More than 300 extraordinary objects encompassing the V&A’s collections and important international loans are interspersed with creative stage sets and compelling footage of seminal opera performances.