For centuries, opera has been a tool of power, a spectacle developed and organized by influential Western nations and the elites within them. Using opera to understand the connections between cultures and to experiment with what can bridge them is no longer merely an aesthetic possibility; it’s a moral necessity.

Iraq celebrated on Wednesday the return of hundreds of historical artefacts, from an ancient Assyrian statue to a 20th century presidential tea set, which were looted, lost or loaned abroad over recent decades to universities and auction houses in the United States, Italy and Jordan.