Chamber Opera: Juliana - Cheltenham Music Festival

Midsummer’s eve on a Swedish water-side estate – the night is short and passions run high in Joseph Phibbs’s intriguing new chamber opera. Juliana is recovering from a broken engagement; with her father away on business, she has only a canary for company. She’s bored and depressed, so goes to the kitchen in search of distraction…

Laurie Slade’s libretto brilliantly transplants Strindberg’s most celebrated play Miss Julie (1899) to a contemporary Swedish setting, exploring the transgression of class, immigration and social and sexual boundaries. Phibbs’s trademark breadth of instrumental colour and vocal expression will make for a stellar world premiere performance.