Boosey and Hawkes HPS 1448 - James MacMillan The Sacrifice is his second opera, written for WNO and premiered in 2007. It is based on one of the Mabinogian stories, a collection of ancient Welsh myths. It is a tale of love set amidst a civil or clannish strife, and culminates in a supreme act of self-sacrifice which eventually heals the communal hatred and brings peace and renewed hope. In its first production the action was placed in the near future, rather than a mythic past.