The World’s Wife

A playful but powerful revision of history that gives the wives of famous men a voice, in a chamber opera for baritone, string quartet and loops, based on poetry by Carol Ann Duffy.

What was it like being married to Shakespeare or Darwin? History does not report, but poet Carol Ann Duffy took the narrative into her own hands with The World’s Wife, imagining the perspectives of wives of famous male figures both real and literary. Tom W Green’s chamber opera brings Duffy’s characters to vivid life, peppering them with his own influences across jazz, pop, rock and choral music.

His score interweaves with music by women composers such as Clara Schumann and Barbara Strozzi, and electronic looping pedals layer exquisite string textures and bring together the variety of female characters in a thought-provoking conversation. Baritone Lucia Lucas is as at home in one-woman shows as she is on the world’s opera stages. She joins the Netherlands-based boundary-crossing Ragazze Quartet, who revel in such original collaborations.

Tagged with: Classical music Barbican Presents

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Produced by the Barbican

Supported by Cockayne – Grants for the Arts, The London Community Foundation, and Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands