Three years passed before Merchant would release her second solo effort, "Ophelia". While "Tigerlily" contained sparse instrumentation, the music on "Ophelia" had lusher arrangements. The reprise at the close of the album featured a symphonic arrangement composed and conducted by British composer Gavin Bryars with whom she would collaborate nine years later to put Shakespeare's sonnets to music. Merchant treated the recording of "Ophelia" as a series of workshops, where she would invite various musicians she had met over the years into her home studio to collaborate and record. In the end, 30 different musicians were featured on the album, among them Brand New Heavies frontwoman N'Dea Davenport (with whom she duets on the song "Break Your Heart"), trumpet player Chris Botti, and the husband and wife duo, Don and Karen Peris from the band The Innocence Mission.