Opera as national myth‑maker

High‑profile operas can function as modern founding myths: revivals, programming choices, and commentary around works like Britten’s Peter Grimes can be intentionally framed to articulate or reassert a country’s collective identity. Cultural institutions (opera houses, festivals) act as civic actors that can canonize stories which then feed into civic self‑understanding and political rhetoric. — If cultural institutions start treating repertory as nation‑building, debates over programming will become proxy fights over national identity and political direction.