The Midsummer Marriage the work in 1968 conducted by Colin Davis with the Ritual Dances choreographed by Gillian Lynne and in 1970, where the production formed the basis of the first commercial recording. Tippett extracted the "Four Ritual Dances" from the opera as a separate concert work. The story of "The Midsummer Marriage" was consciously modeled after Mozart's "The Magic Flute". Both trace the path to marriage of one "royal" and one "common" couple: Jenifer and Mark correspond to Pamina and Tamino, the earthy Jack and Bella to Papageno and Papagena. King Fisher stands in for the Queen of the Night, the Ancients
Eric Cutler in June 2009. He performed the Duke of Mantua in Giuseppe Verdi's "Rigoletto", in a Fenice's production, for a tour in Italy which involved Reggio Emilia and Venice. Cutler's most critically acclaimed performances have all been in Mozart operas. These include Tamino (Metropolitan Opera, Opera Theatre of St. Louis, Glyndebourne and Edinburgh Festivals), Belmonte in "The Abduction from the Seraglio" (Boston Lyric Opera, Houston Grand Opera and Teatro Real Madrid) and Don Ottavio in "Don Giovanni" (Wolf Trap Opera Company and Santa Fe Opera). EMI issued Eric Cutler's first solo recording featuring songs of Barber, Schumann, Hahn and Liszt, called