I have heard Moisei Weinberg's opera The Passenger, for the third time, and with each hearing my astonishment grows 'crescendo'! Until I had heard the music, I, like, many others, was worried about how this symphony-writer would cope with an opera. But it is a real opera, a success to which all Weinberg's previous works paved the way. Apart from its musical merits, it is a work that is much needed today.