Y Twr - Welsh opera Music Theatre Wales

Y Tŵr - a rare opportunity to hear a new opera in the Welsh language by leading Welsh composer Guto Puw - thanks to a bold collaboration between contemporary opera company Music Theatre Wales and Theatr Genedlaethol Cymru, the Welsh-language national theatre of Wales.

Poet, writer and singer-songwriter Gwyneth Glyn has adapted Gwenlyn Parry's classic play, Y Tŵr (The Tower - 1978) as an opera.

A brand new opera in the Welsh language is a rarity. The first Welsh-language opera was Joseph Parry's Blodwen (1878) which enjoyed enormous success and had received no fewer than 500 performances by 1896.

Y Tŵr explores the extremes of emotion experienced by a man and a woman over the course of a lifetime together. Based on the work of Gwenlyn Parry, one of Wales' most important playwrights, this touching and lyrical new opera is an intimate and universal story of love and life set within the tower of its title - a metaphor for any relationship, as its two characters ascend from one level to the next; each one representing a particular moment in their relationship, from the flush of youthful romance to the heartfelt ravages of old age.

The production, sung in Welsh with English surtitles, is directed by MTW's Artistic Director, Michael McCarthy and conducted by Richard Baker, working with Music Theatre Wales for the first time. The opera is designed by Samal Blak, who designed MTW and Scottish Opera's successful production of Stuart MacRae's The Devil Inside for MTW/Scottish Opera, and also MacRae's Ghost Patrol (Please read review here) 

World premiere in Cardiff, 19th May, then touring in Wales and at the Buxton Festival. For more details, please read the Music Theatre Wales website HERE