Alan Riding is an opera devotee who as European Arts Correspondent for The New York Times has attended innumerable opera productions in theatres from London to Vienna, Berlin to Milan, Paris to New York.Leslie Dunton-Downer has written librettos for operas produced in Aspen, New York, Paris, Spoleto (Italy) and Moscow. She has collaborated with leading composers, conductors, singers and directors.They are co-authors of DK¿s Essential Shakespeare Handbook.