A new opera by Dani Howard, The Yellow Wallpaper, premieres at the Copenhagen Opera Festival on 19 – 20 August. The 50-minute opera is based on Charlotte Gilman Perkins’ groundbreaking 1892 feminist novella of the same name, in which a young woman suffering from postpartum depression is confined to a room with yellow wallpaper while she undergoes an involuntary ​‘rest cure’. The work carries an urgent message about social structures discriminatory to women that is still highly relevant today.

The Yellow Wallpaper is one of four new operas composed by women premiering at this year’s Copenhagen Opera Festival. It was commissioned by The Opera Story, with whom Dani has previously collaborated on Robin Hood. Directed by Amy Lane, it is scored for mezzo soprano (Clare Presland), piano (Berrak Dyer), and cello (Midori Jaeger), accompanied by a solo dancer (Valerie Ebuwa). Following the Copenhagen performances, the production receives its UK premiere at London’s Sadlers Wells on 14 – 15 September.