Built across 14 of the 20,000 islands that shelter the city from the Baltic, Stockholm is a revelation and undoubtedly one of the world's most elegant capitals. The number of Swedish opera singers who enjoy top-level careers and who grace the world's stages is nothing less than astonishing. Sweden has a population of fewer than ten million and yet there often seems to be a Swedish singer in an opera every night in the world's most important houses. This has been the case for two hundred years, no doubt due to the enormous number of people who sing in choirs from a very early age. The holiday includes performances of two Baroque operas at Stockholm's historic 18th century theatres.