Opera by Paul Barker

after the novel by

Doris Lessing

Doris Lessing's powerful, mystical parable is concerned with the breaking of boundaries between vastly differing societies separated by physical Zones. It focuses on Alith, Queen of Zone 3 and Ben Ata, King of Zone 4. Their enforced marriage brings about fundamental changes in attitude to relationships between men and women, adulthood and childhood, war and peace.

Paul Barker's translation of this onto the musical stage won both the acclaim of audiences and critics at its premiere in 1985, and was subsequently awarded two prizes. The score explores many corresponding musical and theatrical devices: Eastern and Western influences; childlike simplicity and sophisicated complexity; dramatic reality and mystical allusion.

Awarded British Music Society Prize for Contemporary Opera, 1985

Highly Commended by the International Carl-Maria-von-Weber Competition (Staatsoper, Dresden, 1986)