A decade-long siege has battered the city of Troy, but now its citizens celebrate. The invading Greek forces seem to have retreated, leaving in their wake an offering to the Trojan king: a statue of a horse.

Soldiers and civilians, women and children, dance in its shadow, reveling in this seeming victory. There are even plans to tear down the city walls so that the horse might be presented to the Trojan king himself, a trophy for his pains.

But one woman does not share in the mood of merriment. Her name is Cassandre, and she is a prophet doomed to have her predictions ignored. Already, she senses something amiss. She fears the Trojan king is leading his people to doom.

"In the eternal night, it is all over — you shall fall!" Cassandre sings, foreseeing the worst. "You don't listen to me. You don't want to understand anything, you unfortunate people, of the horror which follows me!"

Italy's Anna Caterina Antonacci sings the aria "Les Grecs Ont Disparu" or "The Greeks Have Disappeared" in Hector Berlioz's "The Trojans," streaming for free the weekend of July 17, 2021: sfopera.com/streaming

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