Four new stories of our time

Four new creative partnerships

Four brand new, 20 minute operas

A Buxton International Festival Production

Shorts will challenge everything that you thought you knew about opera. This is the future.

Award-winning composers and writers from different genres and cultures come together to use the power of opera to tell stories and take you to the extremes of human emotion. This world premiere, commissioned for the Buxton International Festival, has rewritten the rules of contemporary opera.

The four stories explore the uncertainty, fragility and precariousness of the world and tell stories about the ways that we seek a sense of belonging, of healing, of being seen and heard. From the 1920s scandal that rocked the queer community, to ancient African healing rituals. Twenty years of domestic drama and the impending end of the world. These operas are written to make your pulse race and to spark conversations amongst a new generation of cultural pioneers. If you see nothing else this year, make sure you see this.

Themba will be performing in Tears Are Not Meant To Stay Inside by Thanda Gumede and Zodwa Nyoni, and Life Gets Stretched by Martin Green.

There will be 5 performances: July 13, 15, 18, 21 and 25, all at 7.15pm.

For more info and to book tickets click here.