Opera

DEAR MARIE STOPES REVIVAL

King’s Place on 21 September 2019, with Alexa Mason (soprano), Jess Dandy (contralto) and Feargal Mostyn-Williams (countertenor. It received a rave four-star review in The Stage!

This opera was commissioned by the Wellcome Trust, created with composer Alex Mills as part of the Tête à Tête festival of contemporary opera. 

First published in 1918, Marie Stopes’ controversial book ‘Married Love’ revolutionised the way people understoodfemale sexuality, sexual health and contraception. Now, a century on, a new chamber opera by composer Alexander Mills explores and challengecontemporary attitudes to these issues using extracts from the hundreds of letters Stopes received in response to the original book.

First performance: August 9, 11 and 12 2018 in the Wellcome Reading Room, London.

Featured in “I Can’t Do The Gonorrhea Duet!”, Guardian 7 Aug 2018:  “supernatural poignance, melodic but otherworldly, narratively urgent but poetically impressionistic. [….] those of us who’ve never seen it are instantly welling up.”

PAST OPERATIC WORKS

“BEOWULF”

“Beowulf”, commissioned by Armonico Consort & AC Academy Singers with a score by Toby Young, premiered in 2017 with soprano Elin Manahan Thomas and harpist Catrin Finch . It toured in 2019 and the score will be published by Editions Peters.

WITCH: AN OPERA

Commissioned by the University of Oxford Faculty of Music, with a score by Toby Young, performed at the Jacqueline de Pre theatre in 2017.

“THE CHOICE”

Frame opera libretto commissioned by Vocal Futures, performed at Britten Theatre, conducted by Suzi Digby, 14-15 October 2016. Music: Toby Young