Beethoven composed his Symphony No. 7 as his deafness grew more profound. Tchaikovsky’s final opera, Iolanta, premiered in 1892 as a double bill with The Nutcracker. It focuses on a blind princess who does not know she is blind, until a lost knight wanders into her garden and asks her for a red rose, prompting her to ask “what does red mean?” The title role will be sung by blind soprano Cristina Jones.