What's coming up... — Alex Mills

May 13th, London: I’ve written a short opera scene (12 mins) called A Father is Looking For His Daughter. It’s a collaboration with the wonderful writer Gareth Mattey and written for soprano, mezzo-soprano, cello and percussion.

The piece is about a trans father searching for his daughter at an unspecified country border (loosely inspired by the recent news about US/Mexico border camps) and addresses issues of gender identity, censorship and control. It’s one of 3 x new short opera pieces being performed at Rough for Opera (an opera 'scratch night’ showing work in progress pieces) at the Cockpit Theatre. There’s a Q&A after each piece so.. please come along and ask me easy questions!

May 14th, Cardiff: Liam Byrne will perform my piece ‘Suspensions & Solutions’ (for viola da gamba + electronics) at St David’s Hall in Cardiff. The piece is also on his debut album (out soon!).

May 17th, Rotterdam: Hermes Experiment are doing a wonderful showcase at Classical:Next and I’m honoured that they’ll be performing my piece Samsara as part of it. The piece is inspired by Buddhist scriptures and concepts of rebirth and reincarnation.

July 6th, Cheltenham: Cheltenham Music Festival have commissioned me to write a new piano duo, which will premiere at the festival alongside piano duo versions of Debussy’s 'Prèlude à L’Après Midi d’un Faune’ and Stravinsky’s ‘Rite of Spring’. My piece uses the opening musical material of the other two pieces as 'genetic material’ and shuffles it all together to make news harmonies and textures. The piece is loosely based on the biological process of meiosis where DNA gets shuffled to create variation in a process called ‘Crossing Over’… the title of my piece. Please come if you happen to be in Cheltenham or fancy a musical evening out at the festival.

September 21st, London: For those of you who missed it (or want to see it again?!) my little chamber opera Dear Marie Stopes is coming back (hurray!): 2 x shows only at Kings Place on September 21st Tickets and seats are v. limited so please get in there fast! Background info here.

Jess Dandy, Feargal Mostyn-Williams and Alexa Mason in ‘Dear Marie Stopes’, by Claire Shovelton