The 2025 festival ran from 25th June – 11th October. You can find videos of all performances on their pages.
June
19:30-20:30, Festival Shorts: A team of composers and writers will be trapped in an escape room just four days before: what will they write to escape?
19:30-20:15. Two heartfelt and moving true stories about ethnicity and secret relations; opera with no safety net.
20:30-21:30. An impersonator's been imprisoned until he can finish his promised opera. Can you help him finish the show and get released?
19:30-20:30, Festival Shorts: WYRM 2.0 is an ecofeminist work-in-progress sharing early material from a mythic tale spanning centuries.
19:30-20:30, Festival Shorts: A Queer, anti-misogynist reinterpretation of the poetry of Baudelaire, exploring themes of Queerness and Catholicism.
19:30-20:30, Festival Shorts: Acrimonia is two extracts from an upcoming tale of Renaissance rivalries and exploitation.
20:30-21:10. If you died, who would you want to haunt? Grungy electronica meets classical opera in a queer, neurodivergent ghost story!
September
19:30-20:20. When a Traveller finds the idyll he encountered years before, he is confronted with a reality in stark contrast with his assumptions.
19:00-19:45. The fairies of 17th century Devon perform their "half pagan, half papistical" ceremonies, with new music composed in their recorder's church.
20:30-21:30. Three wildly different new operas by emerging opera makers, featuring revenge, witches, and bananas in a surreal, satirical showcase.
19:30-20:30. Folk Oratorio in Cabaret Style, blending Belarusian tradition with contemporary London life through identity, ancestry, and memory.
19:00-20:15. How does an industry obsessed with voices leave its performers without one? PLASTIC BODIES peels back the curtain on hidden abuse in opera.
21:00-21:40. Melania is thrust into a crisis that forces her to stand up to her bullies and ultimately save the world.
19:30-20:30. The Improvesarios attempt to create a fully improvised, brand-new opera based on your suggestions in just sixty minutes of mayhem.
10:00-17:00. A two-day event celebrating the joy of opera!
10:00-17:00. A two-day event celebrating the Joy of Opera!
19:30-21:15. A vibrant Singaporean Trilogy that weaves love, identity, and heartfelt connections; over curry noodles, coffee, and boutiques.
October
19:00-19:45. A darkly humorous exploration of death and decomposition from the perspective of nature’s most ominous bird; the crow.
20:30-21:35. When one world burns, whose stories survive and whose HERitage will be honoured? Blending African percussion & immersive visuals.
19:00-19:40. A satirical dive into the espousal of apocalyptic prophesies in the U.S.A., and their chilling influence on the current situation in Gaza.
19:00-20:00. An immersive operatic journey blending medieval chant and electronica, as a soul falls and is redeemed through music.
20:45-21:25. Taking a sledgehammer to the ‘do-nots’ in polite company, soprano Sarah Parkin explores breakups, fortune telling and the climate crisis.
19:30-20:25. Would you kill one man to save a billion others? Gavrilo K. thinks he has – but why, and is he sane? A neo-verismo opera.
19:00-20:00. 19th century astronomer Annie Walker, supported by the Cambridge Institute of Astronomy, until her career is destroyed.
18:30-19:30. Melania is thrust into a crisis that forces her to stand up to her bullies and ultimately save the world.
19:40-20:45. Online. A darkly humorous exploration of death and decomposition from the perspective of nature’s most ominous bird; the crow.
20:55-22:00. The fairies of 17th century Devon perform their "half pagan, half papistical" ceremonies, with new music composed in their recorder's church.
19:00-19:45. A filmed opera about a haunted piano, powered by real-time music tech. A boy, trapped inside since 1992, tells his story.
20:00-21:15. Esther's journey from the port at Santiago to Manzanillo and through marriage, loss, and resilience—ending in hard-won contentment.
18:30-20:05. How does an industry obsessed with voices leave its performers without one? PLASTIC BODIES peels back the curtain on hidden abuse in opera.
20:15-21:45. When one world burns, whose stories survive and whose HERitage will be honoured? Blending African percussion & immersive visuals.
18:30-19:30. A satirical dive into the espousal of apocalyptic prophesies in the U.S.A., and their chilling influence on the current situation in Gaza.
19:45-21:00. When a Traveller finds the idyll he encountered years before, he is confronted with a reality in stark contrast with his assumptions.
19:00-20:00. Folk Oratorio in Cabaret Style, blending Belarusian tradition with contemporary London life through identity, ancestry, and memory.
