From March to May this year, I rehearsed and played three principal roles in the RCM’s contemporary opera project, a series of short operas inspired by Dostoyevsky’s Crime and Punishment. I was the embattled President in Benjamin Lycke’s Stream of Consciousness, Sea of Blood, the personification of Fear in Kenichi Ikuno’s opera about a kidnapping, 76 Days, and a bizarre Babylonian King in Alex Paxton’s zany take on a biblical story, BEL and the DRAGON. Quite a trio of characters!

Top left: The President, determined to take action
Lower left: Fear, calling the kidnapped man’s family
Right: The King in a rage!

The operas were written by student composers, and were incredibly musically difficult. It was challenging but very rewarding, and the production was a great success. One performance was streamed online, and watched live by over 6000 people. If you missed it, don’t worry – you can still watch it on my videos page here – I’m in the first three of six operas. Warning: this is not opera as you know it!