Content warning [May contain spoilers]

CUOS Shorts is a festival of new chamber opera composed and staged by current Cambridge students. The 3 operas being premiered this year are "Martyrdom of an Anabaptist" by Stefan Wilkinson-Hill, "Willow" by Phillip Matty, and "The Pied Piper" by Marcus Budack.

"Willow" is a poignant five-act chamber opera exploring love, mental illness, and grief through the intimate relationship between Oak (counter-tenor) and Willow (baritone). The work traces the emotional journey of supporting a partner through mental decline, experiencing loss, and ultimately finding acceptance, using an intimate musical approach with a small ensemble of flute, horn, viola, and cello. Inspired by texts from Virginia Woolf and Percy Bysshe Shelley, the opera employs dramatic techniques like asynchronous conversations, fragmented monologues, and a powerful use of silence to explore themes of connection, memory, and emotional endurance. The piece uniquely personifies Oak as both a character and a tree, blurring boundaries between reality and metaphor, and creates a meditative exploration of love's resilience in the face of mental health challenges.

"The Martyrdom of an Anabaptist", composed by Stefan Wilkinson-Hill, with a libretto written by Magnus Hole, is a stirring account from The Martyr's Mirror, a 17th century collection documenting the lives of murdered Anabaptists. It focuses on a Mennonite called Dirk Willems, who is imprisoned by imperial authorities near Asperen, in Holland, and who subsequently escapes. During his escape, his pursuer falls into icy waters, and seems certain to die. At this point, Willems turns back and hauls him out of the water, saving his life. Willems is then re-arrested and executed. Musically built around leitmotifs and melody, the opera is written for an ensemble of strings, piano, two clarinets, a flute, and three singers - alto, tenor, and bass.

The Pied Piper reimagined as a chilling allegory for xenophobia, following the gradual disappearance of characters from the stage. Without a named Pied Piper, the story portrays exclusion and fear as pervasive forces rather than the actions of a single antagonist. A tragedy for piano/organ and string ensemble (with a few moments of irony) and five singers (four upper voices, one lower).

This production is suitable for ages 16 and over.

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Please note that the producers are not allowing refunds for this event.