A few years ago the BBC conducted a survey, the results of which threw up the startling fact that the music of Johann Strauss, Gilbert & Sullivan, and Franz Lehár was the most popular of all played on Radio 2 and 3. Their stage works are known as operettas, or light operas. The Spanish equivalents to these German-language works are known as Zarzuelas. And opera houses internationally are increasingly including works which started their lives as what some people categorize as "musicals". Steven Sondheim's Sweeney Todd and Pacific Overtures are leading examples of this trend and we shall include important productions in our schedule.