The Selfish Giant Opera
By Simon Bruckard

Best known for his witty comedy of manners and novella The Picture of Dorian Gray, the multi-faceted Oscar Wilde also delved into the enchanting universe of fairy tales, producing splendid creative gems such as The Selfish Giant.

This season’s Youth Opera is about the necessity of opening up to the unknown in order to enrich our lives. A grumpy giant excludes children from his garden causing it to fall into perpetual winter. Only once he finds the love and generosity to welcome back the children, does his garden flourish with life and restore his happiness.

This beautiful new opera, featuring a cast of emerging artists, comes from the brilliant creative minds of two former Victorian Opera Young Artists: composer Simon Bruckard and writer Emma Muir-Smith.

With real musical substance and subtle humour, this entertaining work is a pure delight and will touch the hearts of audiences of any age; the young will be captivated by the funny, lovable characters, and the older audience by the clever way Wilde denounces the excesses of his epoch’s industrialisation.