In the first edition, Nightsongs, we explore the loneliness and otherness of love, a theme that preoccupied Britten throughout his career in both his professional and personal lives. Featuring the works of Britten, Nico Muhly, Ethel Smyth, Mohammad Fairouz, Libby Larsen, Jonathan Shin and others, join on this journey through infatuation, desire, obsession and grief as we shift the gaze to the queerness of love in all its facets.

Performed by Kira Lim, Cherie Tse, Azura Farid, Priscilla Fong, Jonathan MacPherson and David Charles Tay, accompanied by Jonathan Shin.

The Opera People commemorate the 50th anniversary of the passing of composer Benjamin Britten with The Britten Project, a series of concerts that explore themes in Britten’s work alongside contemporary voices and new commissions.

In the second edition, Folksongs, we turn the lens to Britten’s arrangements of British and French folk songs as a starting point. For Britten, these arrangements were not merely an exercise in reimagining traditional material with a contemporary voice. Rather, they became a means of searching for a lost simplicity of childhood, and for a world irrevocably changed by two world wars; yet one that might still find a way forward through bodies that hold loss and grief, but also hope and joy.

In this programme, we explore folk song arrangements by Britten, Nico Muhly, Florence Price and Ananda Sukarlan, alongside newly commissioned works by Tan Yuting and Safuan Johari.

Performed by Azura Farid, Cindy Honanta, Jermyn Leong, Kezia Robson, Sim Weiying, Felicia Teo, David Charles Tay and Glenn Camillus Wong accompanied by Jonathan Shin.

Announcing: The Opera People's New Patron Circle Programme!