Francesca Caccini—a virtuoso singer, court composer, and music teacher in the employ of the Medicis—was caught up in the invention of opera as an art form in the early seventeenth century. She likely ...

GREAT BARRINGTON — When the sorceress Alcina sets a spell in motion during the opera that bears her name, she entrancingly waves her wand over her forest of once-human trees; her imprisoned lover, ...