If you are a big music history and opera fan I would highly recommend reading the book “Opera: The Definitive Illustrated Story” By Alan Riding. As a big opera lover I really loved reading this book. It took me into the history and world of opera that dates back to its origin in 17th-century Italy through the present. The author did an amazing job breaking down the history of opera along with introducing the readers to the various composers and their major opera compositions. I loved learning about the various music history behind the story of how opera evolved and emerged over the course of history. It was fun learning about the famous composers, opera singers, and music terminology. The photographs in the book were amazing to look at too while reading this book. The illustrations that were shown gave the reader a look at the famous opera houses around the world, famous opera singers, composers, stage sets/scenes/costumes from each of the operas, artifacts, etc. I learned so many new facts about music and the operas/composers that I never knew about before while reading this book. It is such an excellent nonfiction book to read and very easy to follow since the author did a great job simplifying the sections and operas in the book to understand the terminology, backstory behind the composers/singers, and covering the synopsis of the operas. I am definitely going to purchase this book to add to my personal library collection due to how interesting it was and definitely would reread this book again! This is a must-read book for music/opera lovers!

If you are a big music history and opera fan I would highly recommend reading the book “Opera: The Definitive Illustrated Story” By Alan Riding. As a big opera lover I really loved reading this book. It took me into the history and world of opera that dates back to its origin in 17th-century Italy through the present. The author did an amazing job breaking down the history of opera along with introducing the readers to the various composers and their major opera compositions. I loved learning about the various music history behind the story of how opera evolved and emerged over the course of history. It was fun learning about the famous composers, opera singers, and music terminology. The photographs in the book were amazing to look at too while reading this book. The illustrations that were shown gave the reader a look at the famous opera houses around the world, famous opera singers, composers, stage sets/scenes/costumes from each of the operas, artifacts, etc. I learned so many new facts about music and the operas/composers that I never knew about before while reading this book. It is such an excellent nonfiction book to read and very easy to follow since the author did a great job simplifying the sections and operas in the book to understand the terminology, backstory behind the composers/singers, and covering the synopsis of the operas. I am definitely going to purchase this book to add to my personal library collection due to how interesting it was and definitely would reread this book again! This is a must-read book for music/opera lovers!