As with the symphony, the rites have been read over opera as a form many times, yet even in the 21st century it stubbornly refuses to lie down and die. Three recent premières exemplify the basic strength of the genre: a revision of a radical 20th-century icon, and two wholly new works, one based on a psychological science-fiction classic (twice turned into a feature film), the other on a historical, post-medieval King of Sweden. What links the three together is the psychological examination of the events portrayed.