The Golden Cockerel
English Touring Opera, various venues

A nation that fears invasion by its neighbour; an absolute monarch living in luxury and ruling by caprice; a people hurled thoughtlessly into a war they cannot win. When it comes to political satire, you don’t need to look far for targets in Rimsky-Korsakov’s final opera The Golden Cockerel, which has taken on new and sinister overtones in recent weeks.

It’s a case of history repeating for a work that originally had quite a different scenario in its sights. In 1905, the students of the St Petersburg Conservatory staged demonstrations – making their voices heard as part of the First Russian Revolution. When the liberal Rimsky-Korsakov gave them his support, he was swiftly dismissed from his post. His response? To adapt Pushkin’s verse-fairy tale about a foolish king and a senseless war into an opera – one that would never to make it past the censors and on to the stage during his lifetime.