Simon Williams is a well-known lecturer and writer on opera, professor in the department of Theater and Dance at UC Santa Barbara. He has published widely in the fields of European Continental Theater, the history of acting, Shakespearean performance and operatic history. Williams has contributed numerous articles in edited volumes and leading periodicals. He is also an active director and reviewer of opera. In his talk Williams will identify the reasons why opera is so central to the city’s life and will play many of the most characteristics examples of Viennese operatic music. Vienna has produced some of the most melodious and gloriously extravagant opera in history.