It was probably just coincidence that the University of Tennessee Opera Theatre chose the 2015 chamber opera Middlemarch in Spring for its April opera production precisely at a time when the issues surrounding gender equality in society have finally come…

The University of Tennessee Opera Theatre is taking a break this spring from the staples of the 18th and 19th Century repertoire and is instead exploring the joys and adventure of a contemporary chamber opera based on well known 19th Century literature. Their choice is an interesting one: ‘Middlemarch in Spring’, a recent work based on the George Eliot novel ‘Middlemarch’, with music by Allen Shearer and a libretto by Claudia Stevens.