The opera also offers the tenor aria on which the young Caruso built his career.

However elaborate, the opera offers a simple moral: nothing ever dies.

The Y could provide the daytime activities the developers want but that the opera cannot necessarily offer.

Yet the five operas being presented in repertory between June 2 and Aug. 24 offer an overview of the company's history and Mr. Crosby's philosophy.

The opera will offer different central characters for each act as well as linking minor characters, Mr. Glass said.

Mr. Crawford said the opera was offering its members nearly three times the usual per diem allowance for food: $100 a day.

This "digital opera in three dimensions" offers animated imagery designed by Robert Wilson with live music for amplified voices and instruments by Philip Glass.

For city dwellers who take life at a sprint, opera can slow the pulse and offer a cloak of serenity.

The later operas offer layers of the ancient and the everyday.

The opera offers the clearest case.