By Tim Weber BBC News Online

I hate opera.

Probably not the best way to start an article about opera, but it's true.

Remember that screech of chalk on blackboard that gave you goose bumps and made your toes curl? A nice little Verdi Aria has the same effect on me.

It's been always like that. When I was four years old, I saw my first opera on television. "Why does this woman shout that much," I asked my parents.

And I still haven't got a good answer. Why do grown-up people on a perfectly nice stage suddenly start yodelling for no apparent reason?

Big exception

It's not that I don't like classical music. Give me Gregorian chants, Mozart's Requiem, Beethoven's Pastorale symphony or some Mussorgsky any day.

But there is one big exception to my operaphobia: I just love Alban Berg's Wozzeck.

Wozzeck: Better when sung in German?

And with the opera being performed at the Royal Opera for the first time in 25 years, this is not the moment to tarry. Give it a listen, regardless of whether you live in the Verdi camp or prefer your opera performed well outside shouting distance.

So why do I like this opera that much?

Bullied

To start with, the story is compelling.

Wozzeck, a poor soldier, is bullied - by a doctor who uses him for medical experiments, a cruel senior officer and a drum major who seduces Wozzeck's girlfriend, the mother of his illegitimate child.

When he finally snaps, he kills his one true love and commits suicide.

The story could be as true today as back in 1837, when it was written by Georg Buechner.

Alban Berg first saw the play in May 1914, and straight away set to turning the story into an opera. His experiences as a soldier during World War I helped shape his understanding of Wozzeck.

Real appeal

Cast aside your fears about "atonal" operas. Technically, yes it is atonal and may have caused scandal to ears reared in the romantic tradition of turn-of-the-century Vienna.

The real appeal of this opera, however, is how emotions are turned into music.

Forget those voices that in most other operas get under my skin. Alban Berg has turned them into mere instruments - beautiful instruments - like no-one else before or after.

That's why it is a treat to hear this opera sung in the original German.

A few years ago I saw Wozzeck performed by English National Opera, with an English libretto. It didn't work. German sounds different than English. With the voices taken out of their musical context, they gave me the creeps again.

Stage challenge

And don't be fazed by opera critics or programme notes telling you about the mathematics behind the composition, and how this act or the other is ruled by the number 7.

Berg himself advised his audience to ignore this knowledge.

But prepare yourself for a dramatic performance.

The force of this opera always pushes directors and designers to their limits, resulting in astounding staging.

I have little doubt the Royal Opera's Keith Warner and Stefanos Lazaridis will deliver as well.

So go on, give yourself a push.

Even I, certified opera hater, will give it a go. And no excuses, the cheapest tickets are to be had for �2.

Wozzeck is performed at the Royal Opera House on 15,18, 21, 23, 26 and 31 October.