Opera Express and Women of the Windrush

Join us for a celebration of Britain's African and Caribbean heritage, through opera!

The evening begins with a performance of Opera Express, a 15-minute opera inspired by the music of composers of African and Caribbean heritage. The piece, in which a pianist transforms the chaos of Kings Cross into a musical masterpiece, was co-created by performers from award-winning homelessness charity Streetwise Opera and an amazing group of world-class artists: writer Paterson Joseph, composer Pete Letanka, director TD Moyo, designer Debbie Duru and dramaturg Laura Asare.

The event continues with a performance by soprano Abigail Kelly of Shirley J. Thompson’s celebratory opera Women of the Windrush, portraying inspirational narratives from the lives of women who travelled to the UK from the West Indies between the 1940s and the 1960s. This piece breaks the convention of weak female characters and femme fatales prevalent in the operatic canon by creating uber strong female roles.