A composer of ferocious dramatic instincts
— Alex Ross
Theater Erfurt has announced its new production of Denis & Katya in the coming 23/24 season, The production of the german-language translation by Robert Lehmeier will be directed by Markus Weckesser, and will take place in the round in the Studio.Box venue. The premiere will be on 1st Feburary 2024. Tickets and further information is available here.
Denis & Katya will have its Danish premier on Thursday 17th August (schools performance) and Friday 18th August 2023 (public performance) as part of the Aalborg Opera Festival. This is a brand new production by Kind Of Opera, created by director Selma Mongelard and creative producer Trine Heide. The production then moves to Copenhagen for more shows at the Folketeatret on 25th and 26th August. More info and tickets are available here: https://kindofopera.dk/projekter/deniskatya.
The team is:
Soprano: Katinka Fogh Vindelev
Baritone: David Kragh Danving
Celli Marie Louise Lind, Kirstine Elise Pedersen, Marta Gudmundsdottir, Mihai Fagarasan
Musical Direction: Ian Ryan
Director: Selma Mongelard
Lighting design: Malte Hauge
Sound design: Tommy Kamp Vestergaard (…who also produced the wonderful recording of My Favourite Piece is the Goldberg Variations)
Producer: Trine Heide
Photo by Allan Toft for Kind Of Opera.
On the same day as our wonderful premiere of Denis & Katya in Pittsburgh, Musiktheater an der Wein announced their new production of Denis & Katya to open their 2023/24 season at the Wiener Kammeroper. The production of the german-language translation by Robert Lehmeier will be directed by Marcos Darbyshire, featuring Hasti Molavian and Timothy Connor. The premiere will be on 27th September 2023. Tickets and further information is available here.
I will also be leading a public masterclass with the performers on 3rd September. Tickets for that are available here.
Denis & Katya has been cited as in the top ten most performed contemporary operas across the world in the last seven years. The citation has come from a wide survey of performances of opera made in collaboration between Operabase and the Fedora platform.
Denis & Katya has so far had productions in Philadelphia, Wales/London, Montpellier, Cambridge, Hannover, Amsterdam and Helsinki, with more productions on the way in Pittsburgh, Hannover (revival), Copenhagen and Vienna.
More information about the study can be found here. Ted Huffman also ranks as in the worldwide top three stage directors making productions of new opera in the last seven years.
Denis & Katya won the Fedora Prize in 2019.
Some production images from the Dutch National Opera production of Denis & Katya, March 2022, on the enormous main stage of the opera house in Amsterdam, as part of the Opera Forward Festival. The singers Inna Demenkova and Michael Wilmering, with cellists of the Residentie Orkest The Hague. Direction by Ted Huffman, Music Direction by Tim Anderson, Sound by Simon Hendry, Video by Pierre Martin, Design and Lighting by Andrew Lieberman. All images by Milagro Elstak. They can be used for press purposes with the appropriate credit.
I was delighted to speak to Will Davenport earlier this year about my work in the context of LGBTQI+ issues, particularly focussing on my operas and my work with David Hoyle. This two-part interview features on the ConnectsMusic platform as part of their ‘Open Conversations’ series that focuses on queer music-makers.
The interviews can be seen here:
The German premiere of Denis & Katya happened earlier this year, in a new german-language version of the opera, commissioned by the Niedersächsische Staatsoper in Hannover. The production took place in Ballhof Eins, and featured two singers from the young artists opera studio in Hannover, Weronika Rabek and Darwin Prakash, with cellists Reynard Rott, Gottfried Roßner, Clara Berger, Marion Zander, Killian Fröhlich and Gonçalo Silva. Direction by Ted Huffman, Music Direction by Maxim Böckelmann, Sound by Oliver Sinn and Markus Schwieger, Video by Pierre Martin, Design by Andrew Lieberman, Light by Bernd Purkrabek, Costume by Raphaela Rose and Dramaturgie by Regine Palmei. The german-language translation was made by Robert Lehmeier.
Reviews have been very positive. Here are some excerpts, with machine-translations:
“Es geht um Bildbeschreibungen und Annäherungen an die Wirklichkeit. Die Mezzosopranistin Weronika Rabek und der Bariton Darwin Prakesh als Journalistin und als Freund, als leicht hysterische Nachbarin und Teenager, als Arzt und Lehrer machen das so intensiv, dass Spannung entsteht. Philip Venables hat ihnen weitergehend tonale Partien geschrieben, die oft ein kantabler Sprechgesang sind. Untermalt wird das von einem Cello-Quartett, das Klangflächen liefert, aber sich auch steigert bis zu einer Elegie für junge Liebende: Totenklage für Solocello.” — Hannoversche Allgemeine Zeitung (HAZ)
(“It is about image descriptions and approaches to reality. Mezzo-soprano Weronika Rabek and baritone Darwin Prakesh as journalist and as friend, as slightly hysterical neighbour and teenager, as doctor and teacher do this so intensely that tension is created. Philip Venables has written them further tonal parts, which are often a cantabile chant. This is underpinned by a cello quartet, which provides sound surfaces but also rises to the level of an elegy for young lovers: Totenklage for solo cello.” )
“Da in dieser Produktion alles konzeptionell ineinandergreift und die Komposition so entstanden zu sein scheint, dass in Musik und Libretto sozusagen schon die Inszenierung angelegt ist, kann hier eine neue Form eines Gesamtkunstwerks etnstehen, die die Gattung Oper oder Musiktheater in die Gegenwart überträgt. Diese ganze Produktion ist als funkelndes Kleinod ein highlight im Spielplan der Staatsoper Hannover.” — Cellesche Zeitung (CZ)
(“Since everything in this production interlocks conceptually and the composition seems to have been created in such a way that the staging is already laid out, so to speak, in the music and libretto, a new form of a Gesamtkunstwerk can emerge here that transfers the genre of opera or music theatre into the present. This entire production is a sparkling gem and a highlight in the repertoire of the Hannover State Opera.”)
“Ganz am Schluss, in den letzten Minuten der Aufführung, entsteht dann so etwas wie eine elegische, langsamere Stimmung, die überhaupt erstmals den Raum für Konzentration und Empathie ermöglicht. Im Hintergrund sieht man eine aus einem Zugfenster auf eine Leinwand projizierte russische Landschaft vorbeiziehen. Dazu hört man Reflektionen der Hinterbliebenen. Es ist zu hoffen, dass die Produktion an möglichst vielen Schulen für Jugendliche, nicht nur in Hannover gezeigt werden wird. […] Das Publikum im Ballhof, der kleineren Spielstätte des Staatsschauspiels in Hannover applaudiert lange den Mitwirkenden dieser eindrücklichen und beklemmenden Produktion.” — Opera Online
(At the very end, in the last minutes of the performance, something like an elegiac, slower atmosphere emerges, which for the first time ever allows space for concentration and empathy. In the background you can see a Russian landscape projected onto a screen from a train window. You can also hear reflections from the bereaved. It is to be hoped that the production will be shown at as many schools for young people as possible, not just in Hanover. […] The audience in the Ballhof, the smaller venue of the Staatsschauspiel in Hanover, applauds the actors of this impressive and oppressive production for a long time.)
Denis & Katya was given its german premiere in Hannover this season on 26th Feburary, and a revival has just been announced in the 22—23 Season of the Niedersächsische Staatsoper Hannover. The Staatsoper Hannover commissioned a german language version of the opera, which was translated by director and librettist Robert Lehmeier, and was performed by two singers from the opera studio, Weronika Rabek and Darwin Prakash. They will both return next season for the revival, alongside the cellists of the Staatsoper Orchestra, director Ted Huffman and Music Director Maxim Böckelmann. The first performance of the revival will be on 4th April 2023 in Ballhof Eins.
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Opera Company Taite, Finnish National Opera and Musica Nova Helsinki have just announced their co-production of Denis & Katya on 8th, 10th, & 11th March 2023 at the Arminsali at Finnish National Opera, Helsinki. Opera Company Taite is making a new version of the opera in Finnish, for this Finnish premiere, directed and translated by Johanna Freundlich with light and video design by Janne Teivainen. The two performers will be Mari Palo and Ville Rusanen.
Some production images from the Staatsoper Hannover production of Denis & Katya, February 2022, at Ballhof Eins in Hannover. The singers were Weronika Rabek and Darwin Prakash, with cellists Reynard Rott, Gottfried Roßner, Clara Berger, Marion Zander, Killian Fröhlich and Gonçalo Silva. Direction by Ted Huffman, Music Direction by Maxim Böckelmann, Sound by Oliver Sinn and Markus Schwieger, Video by Pierre Martin, Design by Andrew Lieberman, Light by Bernd Purkrabek and Costume by Raphaela Rose. All images by Clemens Heidrich. They can be used for press purposes with the appropriate credit. Very high-resolution photos can be downloaded here.
The Dutch premiere of Denis & Katya took place on Friday at Dutch National Opera in Amsterdam, as part of the Opera Forward Festival. It was performed by Inna Demenkova and Michael Wilmering, with cellists of the Residentie Orkest The Hague. Here is a selection of excerpts of press reviews for the production (machine translated), including a five-star review in Dutch newspaper, Trouw.
(Photos by Milagro Elstak for Dutch National Opera)
Pittsburgh Opera has just announced its 2022/23 Season, including performances of Denis & Katya on 6th, 9th, 12th, 14th, & 20th May 2023. They will be performing the Opera Philadelphia premiere production that we made in September 2019, with direction by Ted Huffman, design and light by Andrew Lieberman, video by Pierre Martin, sound design by Rob Kaplowitz, costumes by Millie Hiibel and dramaturgy by Ksenia Ravvina. The performances will take place in the George R White Theatre at the BItz Opera Factory. Cast yet to be announced.
Some production images from the Opéra Orchestre National de Montpellier production of Denis & Katya, July 2021. Directed by Ted Huffman, design and lighting by Andrew Lieberman, video by Pierre Martin, music direction by Tim Anderson, sound by Max Hunter. The performers featured in the photos are Chloé Briot and Elliot Madore with the cellists of the Orchestre National de Montpellier. All images taken by Marc Ginot. They can be used for press purposes with the appropriate credit.
Dutch National Opera in Amsterdam have announced that they will make a new production of Denis & Katya in the Opera Forward Festival 2022. The Festival features a range of new operatic each year in March in a range of venues in Amsterdam. The cast is yet to be announced, but the production is a collaboration with the Young Artists Studio at Dutch National Opera.
Denis & Katya made its french premiere a few weeks ago in a new french-language version at the Opéra National Montpellier. The production featured soprano Chloé Briot and baritone Elliot Madore, and cellists from the Orchestre National Montpellier. Ted Huffman directed the production, based on the Philadelphia production from 2019, with lights and set by Andrew Liebermann, video by Pierre Martin, sound by Max Hunter and music direction by Tim Anderson. Opéra National Montpellier were co-commissioners of the opera, and these performances were postponed from May because of Covid. Luckily, this meant that the performances in July became part of the Radio France Festival Occitanie, and the opera was later broadcast on France Musique.
Reviews in the french press have been very positive. Here are some excerpts, all machine-translated from french:
“In an hour’s time the work is clear, striking and deeply accessible. […] After 4.48 Pyschosis, a brilliant transposition of Sarah Kane’s phantasmagorical play into opera, and this masterpiece capable of bringing together a large audience of all ages, the Philip Venables/Huffman duo sets the tone for a modern and popular way of making lyrical theatre rich in emotion, far from musical chapels.“ — Forum Opera
“Finally, in this opera where the two roles are inseparable vocally and scenically, the complicity and osmosis of the two artists is obvious to the eye and to the ear: the timbres respond to each other during the duets, without any shift despite the complex rhythmic writing. The translation of the other soloist’s singing into spoken voice allows the emotions to be conveyed with power: the incomprehension, the discovery of live performance, the chaotic stage movements are transcribed with depth.” — Olyrix
(photo: Marc Ginot)
Opéra Orchestre National Montpellier have made two little videos taking a peek behind the scenes of the production of Denis & Katya. Episode 1 features interviews with me and Ted about the show (mostly in english) and Episode 2 features interviews with the cast: soprano Chloé Briot and baritone Elliot Madore (mostly in french). Here are the videos:
(photo Marc Ginot)
The German premiere of Denis & Katya has been announced for the 21—22 Season of the Niedersächsische Staatsoper Hannover. The theatre has commissioned a german language version of the opera, which has been translated by director and librettist Robert Lehmeier. The opera will be performed by two singers from the opera studio, Weronika Rabek and Darwin Prakash. Ted Huffman will direct, with Maxim Böckelmann as musical director and Andrew Lieberman as designer. The premiere will be 26th February 2022 in Ballhof Eins.
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The performances of Denis & Katya in Montpellier have been postponed due to Covid-19. The opera will now take place on the main stage of the Opéra Comédie on 26th, 28th and 29th July. Tickets are available here. The performances will also form part of the Festival Radio France Occitanie Montpellier. The cast will be Chloé Briot and Elliot Madore.
I am delighted to say that I have won an Ivor Novello Award for Denis & Katya in the Stage Works category of the 2020 Ivors Composers Awards. The awards ceremony was not a public event this year, due to Covid-19, but instead the announcement was made live on BBC Radio 3 on 1st December 2020 in a special programme.
A huge thanks must be said to my collaborator Ted Huffman, Ksenia Ravinna, the commissioners Opera Philadelphia, Music Theatre Wales and Opéra Orchestre National Montpellier, the cast and crews in USA and UK, the hosting venues and the creative team, as mentioned in the “acceptance video” above.
Denis & Katya is my second opera, which was premiered in Philadelphia in September 2019, and was performed in Wales and London in March 2020 — one of the last performances to take place in London before Covid-19 hit.
The opera also won the Fedora Generali Prize for Opera in 2019, and was picked by the Telegraph as the best opera of 2020, and the 9th best cultural event/TV show/film. The opera is shortlisted in the World Premiere category of the International Opera Awards, and was shortlisted in the Opernwelt Jahrbuch Awards 2020.
Music Theatre Wales tour of Denis & Katya is now complete. The show went to Newport, Mold and Aberystwyth in Wales, followed by two nights at the Purcell Room in the Southbank Centre, London. Unfortunately the scheduled performance in Cardiff on 27th March was cancelled due to coronavirus closures.
The response to the tour was outstanding, from public and critics alike. Here are some links to reviews:
“It’s a bleak and brilliant piece – its expressiveness lies in its estranged, documentary style. The final video of the location from a moving train is shattering, etching Denis and Katya into our consciousness through opera as inventive as it is searching and direct.” — The Stage
“Venables turns real-life tragedy into chilling opera” — The Guardian
“a ruthlessly original piece that exposes our modern world of internet dependence as cruel and deeply benighted…. — this 70-minute one-acter, co-created with the writer Ted Huffman, drastically revises the operatic genre.” — The Sunday Times
“a bracingly original and bleakly powerful one-act opera” — The Telegraph
“disturbing story with true emotional weight” — The Times
“Denis & Katya is a lean, provocative, even playful affair – as far from the operatic tradition of tragic romance as it would be possible to imagine: an opera not about a story but about storytelling itself, drawing us in then pushing us away in a slickly choreographed meta-theatrical dance.” — Broadway World
Denis & Katya has been shortlisted for the World Premiere award at the 2020 International Opera Awards. Others shortlisted include Anthropocene by Stuart MacRae and Louise Welsh and p r i s m by Ellen Reid and Roxie Perkins. The awards ceremony was due to take place on 4th May at Sadler’s Wells Theatre in London, but it has now been postponed to 21st September. Fingers crossed!
Both 4.48 Psychosis and Denis & Katya have appeared in a number of ‘Best of 2019’ or ‘Best of the Decade’ lists. Here is a selection:
4.48 Psychosis at the top of the list of Alex Ross’ Best Performances of 2019 in The New Yorker
Music Theatre Wales has released its tour dates for Denis & Katya in 2020. The tour will be in four theatres in Wales, and two shows will be performed at the Southbank Centre in London. Unfortunately the England tour has been cancelled because of a funding shortfall, but there are hopes to ressurect that in the future. The Telegraph Newspaper has just highlighted Denis & Katya as one of the top ten operas to watch in Spring 2020 — read it here.
The dates are:
27th February — Riverfront Theatre, Newport (UK Premiere)
2nd March — Theatr Clwyd, Mold
3rd March — Aberystwyth Arts Centre, Aberystwyth
13th & 14th March — Purcell Room, Southbank Centre, London
27th March — Richard Burton Theatre, Royal Welsh College of Music & Drama, Cardiff
Some production images from the Opera Philadelphia production of Denis & Katya, September 2019. Directed by Ted Huffman, Design & Light by Andrew Lieberman, Video by Pierre Martin Oriol, Costumes by Millie Hiibel. The performers featured in the photos are the UK Cast, Emily Edmonds and Johnny Herford, with cellists Branson Yeast, Rose Bart, Jean Kim and Jennie Lorenzo. All images as thumbnails here taken by Pierre Martin Oriol: please contact him here to request usage.
Some production images from the Opera Philadelphia production of Denis & Katya, September 2019. Directed by Ted Huffman, Design & Light by Andrew Lieberman, Video by Pierre Martin, Costumes by Millie Hiibel. The performers featured in the photos are Sienna Licht Miller and Theo Hoffmann, with cellists Branson Yeast, Rose Bart, Jean Kim and Jennie Lorenzo. All images taken by Dominic Mercier © Opera Philadelphia. They can be used for press purposes with the appropriate credit.
We sent Denis & Katya out into the world on 18th September at the premiere at Suzanne Roberts Theater in Philadelphia with Opera Philadephia. Scored for just two singers, four cellos and pre-recorded sound and video, the 65-minute pseudo-verbatim opera tells the story of two Russian teenagers who, while caught up with the police after running away from home, broadcast their last days online. Ted Huffman and I are so proud of what we’ve made, and it wouldn’t have been possible without our incredible collaborators Ksenia Ravvina, Pierre Martin, Rob Kaplowitz, Andrew Lieberman and Emily Senturia, all the team at Opera Philadephia, led by the exceptional David Devan, and our two dedicated, talented casts (Siena Licht Miller, Theo Hoffman and Emily Edmonds, Johnny Herford), our cello ensemble and technical crew.
The response to Denis & Katya by the press has been incredible. Here are a small selection of reviews.
“Most important for the long-term health of the art was the première, at Opera Philadelphia, of Philip Venables’s “Denis & Katya,” based on the real-life story of two Russian teen-agers who died after a standoff with police. With extraordinary sensitivity, Venables examined the fallout of viral Internet fame and media frenzy. […] What is remarkable about “Denis & Katya” is how it explores the psychological roots of our fixation on such sad and gruesome cases. […] Venables’s way of building tension through minimal means is astonishing throughout.”
— Alex Ross, The New Yorker
“The result of all these elements is an uneasily poignant reflection on storytelling, on the possibilities and limitations of our understanding — especially across space and language in the fragmentary era of social media. At just over an hour, with just six performers, it’s an intimate, haunting triumph.”
— Zachary Woolfe, The New York Times
“Employing the most slimly elegant resources, Festival O’s Denis & Katya is a monumental, dramatically shattering event.” […] “This is an important, out-of-the-box work, superbly performed. Denis & Katya deserves to have a long afterlife, and with luck, it will. But if you can see one of the remaining performances here at Festival O19, you absolutely should. It is utterly spellbinding.”
— David Fox, Parterre Box
“Opera Philadelphia opened its Festival O19 Wednesday on a level that eclipsed the expectations created by the unusually high success rate of past festivals, this time with the world premiere of Denis & Katya. Highly experimental in its manner, the piece exudes great confidence of purpose plus gritty, thoughtful artistry”
— David Patrick Stearns, Philadelphia Inquirer
“The arresting world premiere of “Denis & Katya” by composer Philip Venables and librettist Ted Huffman tackled a real-life fatal collision of unhappy teenagers, guns and social media. In 2016 in Russia, the eponymous couple, both 15 years old, ran away from home, holed up in a family hunting cottage, and posted photos and a video of their standoff with the police on social media. The 70-minute opera ingeniously deconstructs this event, recounting it through the eyes of six observers” […] “As was the case with his shattering “4.48 Psychosis,” Mr. Venables’s music is particularly good at conjuring up emotional atmosphere and building tension. The piece starts out almost boringly placid, with the singers describing bits of the video in flattened speech, and gradually gathers momentum to reach an almost unbearable peak, followed by a reflective coda.”
— Heidi Waleson, Wall Street Journal ($)
“Exactly what happened to Denis and Katya remains conjectural; Huffman and Venables takes pains to thematize the complexities and complicities inherent in their having created—and in our observing—the resulting opera.” […] “Denis & Katya may not assuage those Philadelphia operagoers still awaiting the return of Tebaldi, Tucker and Corelli performing Verdi and Puccini in front of faded painted panels. But it’s an impactful work of music theater that OP executed with admirable visual and aural precision and imagination.”
— David Shengold, Opera News
“Composer Philip Venables and Librettist Ted Huffman’s unsettling, unconventional new opera Denis & Katya challenges the ear, the eye, and the soul to accept a wholly new hybrid form of operatic expression. This is a performance quite unlike any most have ever experienced.” […] “Mr. Venables’ score is a wholly unique aural palette. The deep, often mournful keening of the cello sound grounds the composition in a suitable Russian melancholy. But there are ample flashes of brilliant overtones, and agitated writing as well to complement the often declamatory, angular vocal lines. It was a pleasure to encounter a composer new to me, whose work was forward-looking, yet abundantly accessible.”
— James Sohre, Opera Today
“Denis and Katya, a striking music drama receiving its world premiere as part of Festival O19, might stake a claim as the opera that most closely captures the 21st century’s virtual-reality ethos. The 70-minute work—crafted by composer Philip Venables and librettist/director Ted Huffman, with the aid of translator Ksenia Ravvina—is easily the best original offering I’ve encountered since Opera Philadelphia started presenting these festivals three seasons ago. Rarely has a work felt so connected to the culture in which it was created.”
— Cameron Kelsall, Broadstreet Review
Denis & Katya, my second opera, has been awarded the prestigious Fedora Generali Prize for Opera this year. The prize was awarded at the Teatro la Fenice in Venice at a special awards ceremony on 28th June. The prize is awarded to contemporary opera that is currently being developed which takes risks or break conventions somehow. The prize money of 150,000€ goes to Opera Philadelphia in support of the development costs of Denis & Katya.
The ceremony was a grand affair, with a performance and reception afterwards. I’m very grateful to the Fedora Prize, the Jury who selected our project, and of course to Opera Philadelphia, Ted Huffman and our team who is making this project so exciting to work on. The premiere of Denis & Katya is on 18th September 2019 in Philadelphia, and will be followed by productions in the UK with Music Theatre Wales and in France with Opéra National Montpellier.
Here is a video with David Devan, CEO of Opera Philadelphia, talking about the Fedora Generali Prize for Opera.
My new latest music theatre piece, Denis & Katya, has been announced for its premiere production with the lead commissioner Opera Philadelphia. The work has been conceived and written with my long-time collaborator, Ted Huffman. It is pseudo-documentary music theatre, taking a true story about two Russian teenagers who died in November 2016 after a stand-off with armed police. It looks at the way the internet played a role in their death, and more generally, about how we interact with each other and show empathy in the internet age. We hope that the form of the piece is particularly exciting in the way that it tells the story.
Denis & Katya will also your the UK in February/March 2020 with Music Theatre Wales, including the London performances at the Southbank Centre, and the piece will make its french premiere in Montpellier. Music Theatre Wales and Montpellier Opera are both co-commissioners with Opera Philadelphia. More information about the piece and ticket booking is here, and the London performances are available to book here.
Denis & Katya has also been shortlisted for the prestigious Fedora Prize. The prize-giving ceremony is on June 28th in Venice.
I have been awarded a month-long residency at the Watermill Center in the Hamptons, NY, in January 2019. I will take up the residency with Ted Huffman, and together we will spend the month working on our new opera, Denis & Katya. The Watermill Center was founded by director Robert Wilson to provide space for visual artists, theatre makers, composers and dancers to develop new work. Immediately after the residency we travel to Philadelphia for the first round of workshops on the new opera.
Denis & Katya follows the accounts of the true story of two 15-year-old Russian teenagers Denis Muravyov and Katya Viasova. 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, and 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.
The text material for the opera comes from interviews with people who were adjacent to these events – namely the best friend of Denis, who was 17 years old when we spoke to him, and a journalist who visited the scene of the incident and wrote an extended piece about the tragedy for the Medusa newspaper in the days following. Other interviews with members of the community (Neighbour, Teenager, Teacher, Medic) have been fictionalised, based on verbatim sources such as press reports and a television talk show about the incident. Additionally, we include excerpts of text conversations that took place on Whatsapp Messenger between myself and Ted.
The opera cuts between these different ‘talking heads’ characters in quick succession, much like a television documentary that might reconstruct an event from a variety of eye-witness reports. The story is slowly pieced together from these talking heads, alongside the story of the making of the opera that unfolds in the Whatsapp conversations. Each character has their own particular mode of text setting between the two performers, and their own musical inidcators. The result is 112 microscenes, some as long as c.2 minutes, some as short as 5 seconds.
In essence, this opera is about storytelling. It plays with the idea of storytelling, how we tell stories to each other, both in real life and on the internet. The six characters told their stories about this event, and the two performers are re-telling these stories to the audience in an act of spontaneous roleplay theatre.
Denis & Katya was co-commissioned and co-produced by Opera Philadelphia, Music Theatre Wales and Opéra National de Montpellier, with major support provided by the William Penn Foundation.
Denis & Katya was winner of the Fedora Generali Prize for Opera 2019 and the Ivors Composer Award for Stage Works 2020.
Text: Ted Huffman / Co-creator: Ksenia Ravvina
Duration: 65 minutes, no interval, in two parts (excluding countdown at beginning).
Text is in English. French and German versions are available also from the publisher.
Cast: Mezzo-Soprano, high Baritone (with in-ear monitors)
Ensemble: 4 cellos (playing from iPads, with in-ear monitors).
The opera is unconducted, synchronised with in-ear-monitors.
Amplification, surround sound dispersion, recorded sound & video required.
Archive video available on request.
Premiere: 18th September 2019.
Published by Ricordi Musikverlag GmbH
“Most important for the long-term health of the art was the première, at Opera Philadelphia, of Philip Venables’s “Denis & Katya,” based on the real-life story of two Russian teen-agers who died after a standoff with police. With extraordinary sensitivity, Venables examined the fallout of viral Internet fame and media frenzy. […] What is remarkable about “Denis & Katya” is how it explores the psychological roots of our fixation on such sad and gruesome cases. […] Venables’s way of building tension through minimal means is astonishing throughout.” — Alex Ross, The New Yorker
“The result of all these elements is an uneasily poignant reflection on storytelling, on the possibilities and limitations of our understanding — especially across space and language in the fragmentary era of social media. At just over an hour, with just six performers, it’s an intimate, haunting triumph.” — The New York Times
“Not only is Venables’s newest creation the most brilliantly original operatic work I’ve seen in a decade, it’s a sensitive, subtle, and deeply questioning meditation on youth, voyeurism, and the age of social media.” — Musical America
“Employing the most slimly elegant resources, Festival O’s Denis & Katya is a monumental, dramatically shattering event.” […] “This is an important, out-of-the-box work, superbly performed. Denis & Katya deserves to have a long afterlife, and with luck, it will. But if you can see one of the remaining performances here at Festival O19, you absolutely should. It is utterly spellbinding.” — Parterre Box
“Highly experimental in its manner, the piece exudes great confidence of purpose plus gritty, thoughtful artistry” — Philadelphia Inquirer
“an impactful work of music theater that OP executed with admirable visual and aural precision and imagination.” — Opera News
“Composer Philip Venables and Librettist Ted Huffman’s unsettling, unconventional new opera Denis & Katya challenges the ear, the eye, and the soul to accept a wholly new hybrid form of operatic expression. This is a performance quite unlike any most have ever experienced.” […] “Mr. Venables’ score is a wholly unique aural palette. The deep, often mournful keening of the cello sound grounds the composition in a suitable Russian melancholy. But there are ample flashes of brilliant overtones, and agitated writing as well to complement the often declamatory, angular vocal lines. It was a pleasure to encounter a composer new to me, whose work was forward-looking, yet abundantly accessible.” — Opera Today
“Rarely has a work felt so connected to the culture in which it was created.” — Broadstreet Review
For more extended press reviews, see here.
2024 — Theater Erfurt
2023 — Musiktheater an der Wien
2023 — Opera Pittsburgh
2023 — Kind Of Opera, Copenhagen & Aarhus
2023 — Opera Taite / Finnish National Opera, Helsinki
2022 — Dutch National Opera, Amsterdam
2022 — Staatsoper Hannover, revival in 2023
2021 — Cambridge University
2021 — Opéra National de Montpellier
2020 — Music Theatre Wales: tour dates in Southbank Centre London, Newport, Mold, Aberystwyth, Cardiff
2019 — Opera Phildelphia
Theater Erfurt has announced its new production of Denis & Katya in the coming 23/24 season, The production of the german-language translation by Robert Lehmeier will be directed by Markus…
Denis & Katya will have its Danish premier on Thursday 17th August (schools performance) and Friday 18th August 2023 (public performance) as part of the Aalborg Opera Festival. This is a…
On the same day as our wonderful premiere of Denis & Katya in Pittsburgh, Musiktheater an der Wein announced their new production of Denis & Katya to open their 2023/24 season at…
Denis & Katya has been cited as in the top ten most performed contemporary operas across the world in the last seven years. The citation has come from a wide…
Some production images from the Dutch National Opera production of Denis & Katya, March 2022, on the enormous main stage of the opera house in Amsterdam, as part of the Opera…
I was delighted to speak to Will Davenport earlier this year about my work in the context of LGBTQI+ issues, particularly focussing on my operas and my work with David…
The German premiere of Denis & Katya happened earlier this year, in a new german-language version of the opera, commissioned by the Niedersächsische Staatsoper in Hannover. The production took place…
Denis & Katya was given its german premiere in Hannover this season on 26th Feburary, and a revival has just been announced in the 22—23 Season of the Niedersächsische Staatsoper…
Opera Company Taite, Finnish National Opera and Musica Nova Helsinki have just announced their co-production of Denis & Katya on 8th, 10th, & 11th March 2023 at the Arminsali at Finnish National…
Some production images from the Staatsoper Hannover production of Denis & Katya, February 2022, at Ballhof Eins in Hannover. The singers were Weronika Rabek and Darwin Prakash, with cellists Reynard Rott,…
Pittsburgh Opera has just announced its 2022/23 Season, including performances of Denis & Katya on 6th, 9th, 12th, 14th, & 20th May 2023. They will be performing the Opera Philadelphia…
Some production images from the Opéra Orchestre National de Montpellier production of Denis & Katya, July 2021. Directed by Ted Huffman, design and lighting by Andrew Lieberman, video by Pierre…
Dutch National Opera in Amsterdam have announced that they will make a new production of Denis & Katya in the Opera Forward Festival 2022. The Festival features a range of…
Denis & Katya made its french premiere a few weeks ago in a new french-language version at the Opéra National Montpellier. The production featured soprano Chloé Briot and baritone Elliot…
Opéra Orchestre National Montpellier have made two little videos taking a peek behind the scenes of the production of Denis & Katya. Episode 1 features interviews with me and Ted…
The German premiere of Denis & Katya has been announced for the 21—22 Season of the Niedersächsische Staatsoper Hannover. The theatre has commissioned a german language version of the opera,…
The performances of Denis & Katya in Montpellier have been postponed due to Covid-19. The opera will now take place on the main stage of the Opéra Comédie on 26th,…
I am delighted to say that I have won an Ivor Novello Award for Denis & Katya in the Stage Works category of the 2020 Ivors Composers Awards. The awards…
Music Theatre Wales tour of Denis & Katya is now complete. The show went to Newport, Mold and Aberystwyth in Wales, followed by two nights at the Purcell Room in…
Denis & Katya has been shortlisted for the World Premiere award at the 2020 International Opera Awards. Others shortlisted include Anthropocene by Stuart MacRae and Louise Welsh and p r…
Both 4.48 Psychosis and Denis & Katya have appeared in a number of ‘Best of 2019’ or ‘Best of the Decade’ lists. Here is a selection: 4.48 Psychosis at the…
Music Theatre Wales has released its tour dates for Denis & Katya in 2020. The tour will be in four theatres in Wales, and two shows will be performed at…
Some production images from the Opera Philadelphia production of Denis & Katya, September 2019. Directed by Ted Huffman, Design & Light by Andrew Lieberman, Video by Pierre Martin Oriol, Costumes…
Some production images from the Opera Philadelphia production of Denis & Katya, September 2019. Directed by Ted Huffman, Design & Light by Andrew Lieberman, Video by Pierre Martin, Costumes by…
We sent Denis & Katya out into the world on 18th September at the premiere at Suzanne Roberts Theater in Philadelphia with Opera Philadephia. Scored for just two singers, four…
Denis & Katya, my second opera, has been awarded the prestigious Fedora Generali Prize for Opera this year. The prize was awarded at the Teatro la Fenice in Venice at…
My new latest music theatre piece, Denis & Katya, has been announced for its premiere production with the lead commissioner Opera Philadelphia. The work has been conceived and written with my long-time…
I have been awarded a month-long residency at the Watermill Center in the Hamptons, NY, in January 2019. I will take up the residency with Ted Huffman, and together we…