Violet by Tom Coult and Alice Birch and Denis and Katya by Philip Venables and Ted Huffman have been nominated for the prestigious Fedora Generali Prize for Opera, Cardiff-based opera company Music Theatre Wales has announced.
The prize recognises innovation and creativity in opera; it is awarded to new productions of excellence, and is worth €150,000 for the commission and production of the nominated piece. A public vote decides which of the shortlisted productions gets through to the next stage, which is a vote by an international jury of experts. The winning piece will be announced at a ceremony taking place on 28 June at Teatro La Fenice in Venice.
Music Theatre Wales is the only UK producer leading a nominated bid and one of only two UK organisations nominated for the Fedora Generali Prize for Opera, the other being Aldeburgh Festival.
In Violet time collapses with the sudden loss of one hour on each consecutive day. As society starts to violently fall apart, one woman sees an opportunity to break free and begin again. It is a co-production by Music Theatre Wales, Aldeburgh Festival and Germany’s Theater Magdeburg. The production will tour the UK in June and autumn 2020, heading to Germany in spring 2021.
Denis and Katya tells the true story of Denis Muravyov and Katya Vlasova, two 15-year-old lovers who died after a three-day stand-off with Russian Special Forces on 14 November 2016. Forbidden from seeing each other, they flee to a cabin in the woods but are discovered and refuse to surrender.
An MTW co-production with Opera Philadelphia and Operá Orchestre Montpellier, it opens in Philadelphia in September 2019 and will tour the UK in spring 2020.
The full shortlist can be seen here.
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Tom Coult composed the music for Violet.