First Nights at the Opera Opera Posters Maurice Sendak designed brilliant sets

Maurice Sendak designed brilliant sets and costumes for the Pacific Northwest Ballet's Christmas production of Nutcracker based on the magnificent pictures in this book

This exquisitely constructed nutcracker is hand-painted and imported from the Ulbricht/Seiffener factory in Germany

head of the music department at the prestigious Rudolf Steiner School in New York City

and magenta

Ornaments measure between 3 and 6 inches high

First Nights at the Opera Opera Posters Maurice Sendak designed brilliant setsIn First Nights at the Opera, the renowned music scholar Thomas Kelly narrates the social history of European opera during its golden age by taking us behind the scenes at the premiere performances of five extraordinary and influential operas: Handels Giulio Cesare (London, 1724), Mozarts Don Giovanni (Prague, 1787), Meyerbeers Les Huguenots (Paris, 1836), Wagners Das Rheingold (Bayreuth, 1876), and Verdis Otello (Milan, 1887). What was it like to be