The winners of Scottish Opera’s competition, Opera Sparks 2018, have been selected.
The competition launched last April to give young people who are Scottish or based in Scotland an opportunity to compose a new opera for performance.
The winning entries are Little Black Lies, by composer/librettist team Matthew Whiteside and Helene Grøn, an as yet untitled work by Lewis Murphy and Laura Attridge, and Maud by composer/librettist, Henry McPherson. The winners are awarded a commissioning fee of £3,500 and receive mentoring support throughout the creative process. The works – which will each be 15 minutes in length – will be performed in 2018 by Scottish Opera’s youth company, Connect, in celebration of its tenth anniversary.
The entries were judged by a panel consisting of Derek Clark (Scottish Opera’s Head of Music), Olivia Fuchs (Opera Director), Christopher Gray (Director of Scottish Opera’s Connect Company) and Stuart Stratford (Scottish Opera’s Music Director), with Scottish Opera’s General Director, Alex Reedijk, as convener.