- October 2024
"Love shall thaw ye"
Is all fair in love and war? This opera of halves opposed - good against evil, comedy against tragedy, illusion against truth - is a thrilling retelling of the legendary battle between Britons and Saxons. Told through indelible compositions and masterful writing, King Arthur is a peerless masterpiece of Restoration opera that has lost none of its potency, wit and allure in its wintry fable of love and dark magic.
- March 2024
Fin Waugh - The Ransom of Johnny Dorset
Lily Casey - From the Life and Songs of the Crow
Nicholas Gawley - The Seashell
- February 2024
"I'm leaving home, because I am dead."
Join us for Offenbach's hysterical take on the classic Greek myth of Orpheus in the Underworld, as Public Opinion upstages the gods and Bacchic chaos ensues.
- October 2023
A tale drawn from the ancient Hebrew account of the Jewish people, CUOS is excited to present Handel's Saul - a work of eerie prescience and political insight. When the embittered King Saul takes on the heroic David - the famous slayer of Goliath and the revered deliverer of the Jewish people - he drives more than his own family apart. And, when resentment turns to envy, the consequences turn fatal.
Join CUOS for one of Handel's most accomplished musical works - and a story which continues to challenge and surprise - in the gorgeous setting of the Emmanuel College Chapel.
- October 2023
A tale drawn from the ancient Hebrew account of the Jewish people, CUOS is excited to present Handel's Saul - a work of eerie prescience and political insight. When the embittered King Saul takes on the heroic David - the famous slayer of Goliath and the revered deliverer of the Jewish people - he drives more than his own family apart. And, when resentment turns to envy, the consequences turn fatal.
Join CUOS for one of Handel's most accomplished musical works - and a story which continues to challenge and surprise - in the gorgeous setting of the Emmanuel College Chapel.
- March 2023
CUOS Shorts is a festival of new chamber opera composed and staged by current Cambridge students. Three new operas, each around 15-20 minutes long, will be performed at 8pm on the 3rd and 4th March 2023 in Trinity College Chapel. The 4 operas being premiered this year are 'Tempо̄ Famine' by Sarah Henderson, 'Dream House as Music' by Milo Flynn, 'Sarah and Hagar' by Medomfo Owusu, and 'Goblin Market' by Sam Gray.
- February 2023
In one of Mozart’s final masterpieces, childlike adventure collides with fantasy, satire, and comedy. Underpinned by Mozart’s kaleidoscopic score, the music captures the timeless themes of love and deception whilst presenting some of the most popular music in the classical repertory, with show-stopping arias and fast paced ensemble numbers.
After being saved from death by the three servants of the Queen of the Night, the prince Tamino meets Papageno, a bird catcher, before setting out to save his love, Pamina. Guarded by Sarastro and his priests, both Pamina and Tamino learn that all is not what it seems. Enter an enchanting land of adventure, and follow Tamino on his quest for love in the fantastical world of the Magic Flute.
- October 2022
- February 2022
- November 2021
Denis & Katya follows accounts of the true story of two 15-year-old Russian teenagers Denis Muravyov and Katya Vlasova. Their story was reported worldwide in November 2016 after they ran away from home together and hid in a family-owned hunting cabin in Strugi Krasnye. After a few days, the police surrounded the house, the situation escalated and the pair died of gunshot wounds on November 16, 2016. Other circumstances of their death are unclear. They live-broadcast on social media frequently during the three days in the cabin, engaging with on-line viewers as they filmed while in the midst of a standoff with Russian Special Forces.
- September 2021
Carl Maria von Weber’s opera Der Freischütz combines musical beauty, dramatic power, and a stimulating plot to create a complete whole. In so doing it led the way in the development of 19th century German opera, particularly through its fusing of different genres and its enhancement of the dramatic power of the orchestra.
The opera has often been associated with issues of German nationalism because of the plot’s allusions to the German countryside and the ‘Volk’. Max, a young German forester who wants to marry Agathe, is the key character. In order to marry Agathe, Max must win a shooting context. After an unsuccessful trial, which takes place over the opening orchestral music ‘Viktoria’, Max is convinced by Caspar to follow him into the Wolf’s Glen. There they cast several magic bullets for the contest the following day with the direction of the seventh bullet determined by Samiel, the devil-like figure who Caspar calls upon in the thrilling Wolf’s Glen scene. Meanwhile Agathe - with her maid, Ännchen - is anxiously contemplating her upcoming marriage. Agathe acts as the antithesis to Caspar and Samiel as she represents purity. Agathe is particularly concerned when she hears that Max will go into the Wolf’s Glen, as can be heard in the trio ‘Wie? Was? Entsetzen!’ The opera climaxes at the competition when, as Max takes aim and shoots, Agathe falls to the ground. Everyone believes she has been killed; however, it turns out she has only fainted. Despite this, the local Prince Ottakar, shocked by Max’s dealings with Caspar and Samiel, banishes the young lovers. Max and Agathe are saved at the last minute by the Hermit who arrives at the beginning of the finale in this recording. He argues that they should be given a probationary year and, if they behave, they may marry. He also insists that the shooting contest should be stopped forever more. The opera ends happily with the hope of better times ahead.
The Coronavirus pandemic has had a huge affect on opera, including in Cambridge. As a result of social distancing and lockdowns, we made the decision to make this project a fully digital production which meant recording the opera over three days in West Road Concert Hall. Whilst it was disappointing not to produce Der Freischütz fully, recording offered further opportunities, not least being able to produce a professional standard recording. The recording process was a challenging but engaging task for us all and it was wonderful to be able to work in such close detail to create a recording of such high calibre.
- June 2021
two women (both alike in dignity) - Marcella Keating
“My dear …”
Two women begin the opera in love, but separated. Their love for each other is all-encompassing, and beautiful. As they vocalise their relationship, those around them begin to take notice, commenting on their relationship and verbalising some of their fears. Questions are raised as the men’s voices grow louder and more discordant, with shouts and echoes rippling around the auditorium with waves of hatred. As the two women and their relationship are torn apart by these fears and comments, the voice of one of the women breaks through, singing about memories of their relationship. As the discord gives way to calm, silence, and stillness, the two women finally embrace, surrounded by a chorus of their and the men’s voices, now representing a more loving world.
two women (both alike in dignity) takes selections from the letters of Virginia Woolf and Vita Sackville-West, updating them to create a timeless love story which draws on generations of lacking LGBTQ+ representation in the media and on the operatic stage, exploring how society looks down on LGBTQ+ love. In placing female-oriented stories on the operatic stage, and ones in which the women are not victims and do not die, two women attempts to empower the audience whilst acknowledging the history of pain built into these communities.
“Yours ever …”
Esther: a voice for the voiceless - Mary Offer
After a decree is passed condemning the Jewish race to death, Esther selflessly risks her life to face the King, becoming a voice for those who would otherwise be abandoned at the edge of society. Guided by God, love, and her faith in humanity, Esther uses her intelligence and humility to make her case to the King, but will she be able to save the Jews? Queen Vashti was banished for her disobedience to the King, and Esther could face an even worse fate, especially as the King’s advisor Haman is a scheming megalomaniac willing to murder an entire race for the sake of his own hubris.
A tragicomic opera exploring the tensions and inequalities of ancient times, yet still applicable today, Esther: a voice for the voiceless depicts the extent to which authority ruled, ruthlessly oppressing minorities such as women and Jews. One of only two female-centred books in the Bible, and perhaps the only to depict a rebellious woman, Esther shows courage in a proto-feminist manner, becoming a voice for those who would otherwise be voiceless in the face of power. She boldly risks death in order to save the Jews, facing scrutiny from Haman but remaining constant in her faith, displaying strength of character and defying expectations for a woman of her time.
Esther: a voice for the voiceless conveys a timeless message of the importance of recognising and empowering the oppressed: an issue which remains at the heart of our culture today and has a potent poignancy for our current times.
The Jackal who pretended to be a peacock - Katrina Toner
‘Ardour is for a Prophet and God’s Friend;
Impudence suits impostors who pretend,
To draw men’s eyes towards themselves with pride,
Then claim, ‘We’re blissful!’ though they’re glum inside’
Rumi was a thirteenth-century Persian poet, and his Masnavi is one of the most significant works of spiritual poetry. It is grounded in Sufi philosophy and comprises stories and poetry that convey a sense of the spirituality and introspection.
The Jackal who pretended to be a peacock explores the ideas of truth and illusion through two stories presented in parallel in book three of Rumi’s Masnavi. The audience is guided through these fables by an omnipresent narrator. The first story describes a jackal who falls into a vat of oil and poses as a peacock, whilst the second details the escapades of a man who finds a sheep’s tail and uses it to grease his moustache in an attempt to create the appearance of having partaken in a feast. The two stories unfold in parallel and reach their climaxes as the protagonists’ deceptions are exposed. Throughout the opera, the drama is interspersed with introspective passages in which the voice of God relates the action to more abstract contemplations regarding the real and the false. Fragments of these philosophies are repeated in the original Farsi.
Concepts such as truth and illusion are particularly relevant today. This opera considers these ideas through a classical and spiritual text, allowing for a sense of distance and reflection. This meditative aspect of the opera is counterbalanced by delightful surrealism and Rumi’s subtle satire. In decontextualising the fables through simple costumes and pared-down set design, this production seeks to lend their moral lessons a universal quality.
The libretto is adapted from Jawid Mojaddedi’s translation.
The Masnavi, Book Three, Jalal al-Din Rumi, J. A. Mojaddedi (translator)
© Jawid Mojaddedi 2013
The moral rights of the author have been asserted
Reproduced with permission of the Licensor through PLSclear
- March 2020
Cambridge University Opera Society is delighted to present a night of newly-composed student opera.
The Wings of the Dove
The Wings of the Dove is one of the three late novels that mark the pinnacle of Henry James’ genius. This adaptation radically alters and compresses the plot to place an unflinching focus on the central characters, with a sense of pace and urgency befitting the tragic story. A wealthy American heiress, Milly Theale, arrives in Europe with a desire to experience life to the fullest, as she is terminally ill. In London, she seeks out an acquaintance from the US, Merton Densher. His girlfriend, Kate Croy, persuades him to feign interest in Milly in order to gain her inheritance, but he cannot keep up the deception, and after her death baulks at accepting her money, which comes between him and Kate. Given James’ inspiration from Psalm 55 in the original novel, musically this adaptation favours a religious atmosphere throughout, featuring fragments of Psalm 55 set in a pseudo-psalm chant style, apt for a premiere in Trinity College Chapel.
Jonah on the Hill
On a hill outside Nineveh, a great Mesopotamian metropolis, Jonah is enraged with God. He cannot understand why God has failed to destroy the city after is was prophesied that it had only forty days left to exist. Despite their fasting, the people still worship their idols in the temple of Ishtar, and Jonah believes they deserve to be punished. With the help of a tree and a humble worm God teaches Jonah about the value of His people, and the fruitless injustice of anger.
An Age's End
“Forgive me father for I have sinned.”
A quiet chapel. A penitent man kneels in isolation with his thoughts. They begin as a murmur and build into a tumultuous cacophony.
Out of this frenzy of chaos emerges Mary Magdalene, his hallucinatory redeemer. She offers a hope of heaven, freedom from guilt: a light in the darkness.
This light is carried by two dancers who embody the union, as they entwine, dance and purify. The penitent soul reconciled with God.
Will the man’s union with his faith lead him to Life or Death?
This is an Age’s End and perhaps, in the process, a new one shall form.
Judith
"It would have been impossible, completely and entirely, for any woman to have written the plays of Shakespeare in the age of Shakespeare…"
Judith takes its text from Virginia Woolf's essay A Room of One's One, in which she describes the life she imagines for a fictional sister of Shakespeare, named Judith. She is adventurous, imaginative, and "agog to see the world", with a quick "gift for the tune of words". There is a chasm, however, between her ambitious talent and the expectations of a harsh male world, and into this chasm she falls to die.
Woolf, along with Sylvia Plath two generations later, was herself a female genius lost to suicide, and subsequently narratives surrounding her life buried her creative and political voice under a sea of speculation about her mental health and madness. She delivered A Room of One's Own in lectures to students of our own university in 1928. Almost 100 years later, this opera allows Judith and Woolf to live, breathe, and speak again, and passes the baton onto you, to reconsider our female history and to liberate its future.
"But she lives; for great poets do not die; they are continuing presences; they need only the opportunity to walk among us in the flesh. This opportunity, as I think, it is now coming within your power to give her."
- February 2020
La Cenerentola is Rossini's exquisite opera based on the classic fairytale Cinderella. The story follows the kind and gentle Angelina, forced to live a life of drudgery by her vain and vacuous step-family. When it is announced that the Prince, Don Ramiro, is seeking a bride, Angelina has the chance to free herself. Rossini's retelling is more grounded than many versions, but no less magical and romantic.
This ambitious production, the 2020 CUOS Mainshow, places the story in 1950s Rome, inspired by the classic Hollywood romance starring Audrey Hepburn, Roman Holiday. Beautiful sets and costumes evoking the Eternal City combine with Cambridge's finest singers and musicians to create a breathtaking night of opera.
- November–December 2019
"And still this need to be watched, to be awed, to be loved in each second, and feel my throat close with that need, my heart ache with that need, my stomach sour, my brain tear with that need".
A silent caretaker stands alone in a hotel. This is the location an English couple have chosen to meet with an Irish Woman, offering her an unnamed service. Over the course of the night, each of them must face what they fear. As the music envelopes all, not everyone will live through the night.
A show combining theatre and opera, Donnacha Dennehy and Enda Walsh's 'The Last Hotel' is a poignant and visceral exploration of love and death in modern day capitalist society. Two of Ireland's leading artists, Walsh (multi-award winning playwright, screenwriter and Tony Award winner in 2012 for the book of the musical 'Once' ) and Dennehy (founder of the Crash ensemble and renowned composer) create a truly breathtaking work that reaches the heights of what modern opera can achieve.
"And death falls to the floor - and with new skin - take to the stars. Rise above and float. Disappear into the ether. Past withers. Space eases me to rest. No eyes on me, no words to hear - just this floating. This forgetting. This beginning. This new".
CWs: Depiction of Suicide; Mental Health; Scenes of Violence.
- August 2019
- June 2019
In celebration of 200 years since its composition, Cambridge University Opera Society presents Schubert's 'The Twin Brothers' (Die Zwillingsbrüder). This light-hearted farce, transposed into a collegiate Cambridge setting, follows young Elizabeth, who, upon her birth, was subject to a marriage contract by her College Master father with the rich general Frank Pike. Pike then leaves for war and Elizabeth falls in love with young student Anton. On the day she comes of age, Frank suddenly returns, demanding the marriage contract be honoured. This throws everyone into a confusion heightened by the return of Frank’s long-lost identical twin brother Frederick.
This new and exciting production of a rarely performed work promises to explore Schubert’s opera in a unique way, particularly in the translation of the libretto into English and the relocation of the comedy to Edwardian England.
- February 2019
1980s Seville. Carmen declares that any person she loves should beware. However, even she is unprepared for what will happen when she decides to seduce Don José, an army corporal who initially appears uninterested in her charms. Don José soon abandons his sweetheart Micaëla and his army job for Carmen, and joins her and her smuggler friends in the mountains. But Carmen quickly wearies of Don José's possessiveness. When she turns her attentions to the dashing toreador Escamillo, Don José's jealousy erupts into violence.
This ambitious production, performed in the original French (with English subtitles) with full orchestra, will bring together some of Cambridge University's finest musicians, actors and dancers to create a truly spectacular evening.
- November 2018
- June 2018
- February 2018
The CUOS mainshow is the operatic highlight of the Cambridge calendar, this year bringing Donizetti's sparkling comedy to the Music Faculty. Sung in Italian (with English surtitles), and with full orchestra and chorus, this stars many of the University's finest singers, including Anna Wagner, Henry Websdale, Olivia Brett, Louis Wilson and James Quilligan, under the baton of Edward Reeve. This is a fully-staged production, suitable for all the family, directed by Gareth Mattey and Judith Lebiez.
- November 2017
Emerging from the silence, a voice resonates: Death warns Sāvitri that the time of her dear husband Satyavān has come. Armed with compassion, wisdom, and the sheer power of love, Sāvitri engages Death in a battle to claim her husband. But can one woman outwit even Death?
Based on an episode from the ancient Sanskrit epic, the Mahābhārata, this tale of human passion and spiritual devotion is given a stunning and evocative musical soundscape by the English composer Gustav Holst.
- October 2017
A story of lust, intrigue, and reconciliation set in Classical Thrace with warring dynasties providing the characters.
Handel's Radamisto draws on Tacitus' Annals to give us the story of Tiridate, a warlike king driven mad by love of the princess Zenobia, Tiridate's brave and patient wife Polissena, and the dashing prince Radamisto, and brings together some of the composer's greatest evocations of rage and pathos. The opera will be performed in elaborate costumes drawing on baroque costume and steampunk fashion, with a stylised, symbolic language of movement.
- June 2017
A Dinner Engagement is this year's CUOS May Week Show, a colourful new take on Berkeley's very modern modern opera.
It's a frothy, delightful, 1950s tale of love amongst the vegetables. The sweet but butter-fingered Lord and Lady Dunmow are trying to prepare for dinner with the Grand Duchess and her son Phillipe. Currently in very reduced circumstances,they hope to marry their daughter to the minted Prince. But as the Very Rich try and navigate their genteel way through the impossible trial of making dinner, absolutely everything goes terribly wrong.
And yet, despite all the parental mayhem, the first buds of young love start to flourish...
- February 2017
Cambridge University Opera Society presents Stravinsky's neoclassical opera at West Road Concert Hall. Based on Hogarth's paintings, this is a Faustian tale of decadence, corruption and retribution, oozing with of wit and dark humour.
- November 2016
This beautiful but little-known opera tells the ancient legend of Orpheus and Euridice, where Orpheus must rescue Euridice from Pluton, the God of the Underworld, charming him with music after she dies at their marriage celebrations. Encompassing lively Baroque dances as well as sumptuous arias, Orpheus attempts to rescue his beloved in a work that explores a wide range of human emotions, from joy and love, to the darkest depths of grief and despair, in only an hour.
- June 2016
Buoso Donati is dead. His relatives are gathered to mourn his loss with the utmost sincerity. They obviously don't care at all about the vast wealth (particularly 'the mule, the house and the mills at Signa') and who it may have been bequeathed to. But it actually turns out that Donati has flagrantly left all of his possessions to a monastery and the bickering frantic relatives, desperate to do anything to prevent Donati's money going to help the church and the poor, turn to the one man who can help them. The humble, lowly, yet devious Gianni Schicchi.
Puccini's only comedic work, this hilarious and ridiculous piece, with its impeccably beautiful music will be staged by the Cambridge University Opera Society this June in the original Italian. This new immersive production, perfectly situated in the round in the Cambridge Union Debating Chamber, will throw together farce, slapstick, pantomime, commedia dell'arte (and possibly some audience involvement) in pursuing a fully engaging, anarchic production of one of Puccini's most successful shorter works.
Don't worry if you can't speak Italian, neither can we.
Buy tickets at: operasoc.tessera.info
- February 2016
This year's CUOS Mainshow is A Midsummer Night's Dream, an opera by Benjamin Britten - an enchanting adaptation of the famous play by William Shakespeare.
There will be three evening performances of the production, plus a matinee performance on the Saturday afternoon at 1330.
- November 2015
Mozart's classic opera is reimagined in 1930s Mafia-owned L.A. The heartless Count tries desperately to sleep with his servant's wife on her wedding day while a vengeful lover attempts to destroy Figaro with the help of the slimly Don Basilio. This witty and profound farce has it all; unexpected plot-twists, cross-dressing, sexual promiscuity and defenestration.
- November 2015
Jephtha was Handel's last oratorio, premièred in 1752. Like all Handel's 'Israelite' oratorios, it was originally presented in an entirely un-staged way, due to reasons stemming from the contemporary religious and aesthetic climate, but we are excited to follow the trend of Glyndebourne and WNO in presenting this oratorio in a fully staged production. Jephtha is intensely emotionally charged, and has the potential to be extremely affecting as a piece of theatre; the story is presented here in a stylised, eighteenth-century, imagined London.
- June 2015
In Cambridge May Week, 1914, the thunder of imminent war on the continent is far too distant for undergraduates Ferrando and Guglielmo to pay much attention. Instead, they are busy enjoying the golden summer – and being blissfully in love with their fiancées, Dorabella and Fiordiligi, who live just outside the university town, waited on by the crafty Despina. Equally crafty is the young students' friend Don Alfonso, a sly old fellow who seeks entertainment of his own by enticing Ferrando and Guglielmo into a bet that he can disprove the fidelity of their sweethearts.
In what follows over the course of one long summer's day, all four lovers are forced to consider the surety of their values and nature of their relationships, finally seeing their own naiveté brought into sharp relief alongside the lengthening shadows.
Arguably the funniest of Mozart and Da Ponte's famous collaborations tells a hilarious yet poignant story of youth, age, innocence, experience, and – above all – the high price of naiveté when mixed with passion and desire. CUOS is excited to present a brilliant student cast and orchestra in this production staged in Trinity Chapel.
- March 2015
Bernstein's 'Candide' is an operetta set in the castle of the Baron of Thunder-ten-tronckh in the mythical European land of Westphalia. Within these walls live the Baron and Baroness, Cunegonde-- their beautiful and innocent virgin daughter, Maximilian--their handsome son, Candide--their handsome bastard nephew, and Paquette-- the Baroness' buxom serving maid. They are taught by Dr. Pangloss, who preaches the philosophy that all is for the best in "The Best of All Possible Worlds."
Candide and Cunegonde kiss and Candide is banned from Westphalia. As he leaves, Bulgarians invade, kidnap him and slaughter everyone except for Cunegonde, who they prostitute out to a rich Jew and the Grand Inquisitor. Candide escapes and begins an optimistic, satirical journey...
For 'Candide', composer of 'West Side Story', Leonard Bernstein wrote thrilling music full of wonderful tunes. The show is great spectacle, performed by a large cast of thirty talented singers.
- February 2015
Tchaikovsky's celebrated lyric opera tells a tragic story of love, friendship and betrayal.
On one of his visits to the countryside to court his beloved Olga, Lensky brings along his friend Onegin. Olga’s sister, Tatyana, falls madly in love with the stranger, and writes him an impassioned letter. Onegin spurns her advances, but his rash behaviour leads to accusations of foul play between him and Olga. Lensky challenges Onegin to a duel, which Lensky loses. Years later, Onegin meets Olga, now married, again; Onegin realises he is in love with her, and begs her forgiveness but, bound to her marriage, Olga must leave him dejected and alone.
This production sets the drama in 1920s Russia, and sees the agonising human drama mirrored in the descent of revolutionary optimism into the realities of life under Stalin's rule.
CUOS’ annual Main Show is the biggest and most exciting production of the year! It’s an amazing opportunity for students to produce a high quality opera in West Road Concert Hall, which will be seen by 1000-2000 people.
- November 2014
Semele was composed in only a month, but contains some of Handel’s most inventive and delightful music, notably the famous "Where’er you walk". It presents the story of the daughter of the king of Thebes, who is betrothed to the prince of Boeotia, but is secretly in love with Jupiter, king of the gods. Her sister Ino has fallen in love with the prince, but Jupiter’s wife Juno is determined to take revenge on the mortals in her way.
Handel tried to disguise this ‘glittering stone dug from the ruins of Greek mythology’ as an oratorio in order that it be included in the Theatre Royal’s 1744 Lenten concert series. This semi-staged performance is sung to the original English libretto and is staged with various kinds of masked drama in mind.
- November 2014
Lady Billows is organising the annual May Day festival and desperate to find girls for the coveted position of Queen of the May. However, it turns out none of the girls in the village are virgins – disqualifying them. Thus, Lady Billows and Superintendent Budd decide to select a May King instead of a May Queen. Albert Herring, a virgin, is the perfect candidate. He is crowned May King at the Fete. But, feeling ridiculed, jealous of his colleague, Sid’s relationship with Nancy and drunk from a spiked drink, he heads out into the wide world. The town assumes he is dead, and are deep in tragic mourning when Albert finally, and most comedically, returns to their great surprise and frustration!
- October 2014
This opera tells the story of St Mary of Egypt, once a prostitute in Alexandria, who went into the desert for spiritual contemplation and met Zossima, a holy man. Mary’s love was love misdirected, and although her door was wide open, Zossima's was closing around him with pride: even though he 'understood all the mysteries', he did not understand why his good deeds and virtues had not brought him peace. His arrogance meant he failed to find the one thing he needed - the supreme mystery, the humility essential for love. In the arid desert, Mary and Zossima find in each other a kind of spiritual ecstasy.
The simplicity of the music is in stark contrast with the theology of the desert fathers in all it's searing compassion. Staged in the iconic King's College Chapel, this production presents a rare opportunity to see an opera in the city's largest natural theatre as well as being the UK premiere of the chamber scoring. The performances will be part of the 70th birthday year celebrations, and also close to the first anniversary of the composer's death.
