Week 1: Saturday Events

Begins at 4pm with 'When Yesterday We Met… A Family Song Recital', devised, directed and presented by pianist Dominic Harlan, with Sarah Gabriel (soprano) and Philip Smith (baritone). Featuring music by Ives, Rachmaninov, Schubert, Wolf and Harlan. (Suitable for eight years and over.) Then, at 5.30pm, Alexis Guneratne's 'Clearing'. An immersive soundscape of recordings from nature, bringing the outside indoors. Inspired by Kafka's 'Metamorphosis', and acting as a prelude to the Wayte work which follows, this is an exquisitely crafted aural journey through Luxembourg's forests. Listeners are encouraged to enter and leave the performance space at will, stepping into, and out of, an artificial, natural environment; free. At 6.15pm 'Metamorphosis' by Gavin Wayte, new sung drama, for baritone and piano, based on Kafka's short story and performed by baritone Marcus Farnsworth and pianist Gavin Wayte. Followed, at 7pm, by 'A Fetus in America' (music: Luke Styles, words/director: Peter Cant). Mezzo-sporano Jessica Walker and Ensemble Amorpha enter the afterlife where aborted foetuses gather for a laugh and a shot of embryotic fluid at the 'Petri Dish', legendary cabaret bar for the unborn. Then, at 7.35pm, 'Midnight Closes'. Fusebox Productions presents Charlotte Bray's three Thomas Hardy settings for soprano, piano, clarinet and cello. Directed by Max Hoehn. A young woman (Rhona McKail, soprano) sings of her unrequited love and desire for a stranger; free. At 7.55pm 'The Withered Arm', composer Jenny Gould's operatic adaptation of an eerie Thomas Hardy short story of love and loss. Two women's destinies are shaped by a terrifying vision, their lives inextricably intertwined. Directed by Joanna Turner. Then, at 9.15pm, Paul Evernden's 'In Her Little Room', featuring Sibylla Meienberg. A young woman returns home. In an empty room we witness her regression to childhood as she is forced to come to terms with an awful truth. In her little room is a provocative new music theatre work for actress, solo violin, live electronics and tape. Ends at 10pm with 'Remembering… Forgetting', Nigel Osborne and Michael Popper's reworking of their brutal and tender tribute to Russian poet Sergei Esenin.