Classical Notes: Get ready for a long string of modern micro-operas

20 Shots of Opera, the latest brainchild of Irish National Opera, is being described as ‘the biggest single-event commissioning project in Irish operatic history’

Raphaela Mangan and Rachel Croash in Close by Hannah Peel, part of the INO’s 20 Shots of Opera project. Photo: Ste Murray

Try to guess what the following three disparate scenarios have in common.

A scientist studying the Great Pacific Garbage Patch – a 1.25 million sq km floating mass of discarded plastic – has an apocalyptic vision of mankind’s future.

A terrifying walk through a Covid-19 hot zone in a Birmingham hospital as seen through the lens of a medieval English poem.

The tragic true story of a wartime shipwreck shows the dehumanising power of fear ...