Music Theatre Wales Presents “Perthyn” Digital Opera

The short opera was created with ideas by a group of neurodiverse youth

Created in 2023 in partnership with the producing company Hijinx, Perthyn (Welsh for ‘belong’) is Music Theatre Wales’ (MTW) second Future Directions Digital Opera.

A young people’s program exploring opera’s role as an expressive form for all people, MTW’s Future Directions sees professional artists and a neurodiverse group of people come together to create new operas. 

The program’s first digital opera, The Things That Go Unnoticed, was created by the Music Theatre Wales Young Company during 2022.

For Perthyn, MTW brought together theater maker and dramaturg Jain Boon, music maker Mari Mathias, singer Llio Evans, and filmmaker Gavin Porter with young participants to create an original work in three movements. 

Following taster sessions at schools and young people’s groups, the participants embarked on two residencies at Aberystwyth University and the University of South Wales, between which they gathered online to continue developing the ideas and structure of the production.

Throughout the formation of Perthyn, the neurodiverse youth devised the dramatic representation, created the visual language, performed the music, and co-created the filming.

The resulting production is an opera in music, text, movement, and film, built entirely on the ideas and creativity of the young participants, carrying strong messages to audiences. 

“Music Theatre Wales is all about re-imagining opera and I can’t think of a better way of demonstrating this than our new digital opera Perthyn,” said MTW’s artistic director Michael McCarthy in Nation.Cymru. “Created by a neurodiverse group of young people working in collaboration with an outstanding team of artists, this new piece gives voice to the young people’s shared message about the power of belonging. 

“It is a message we all need to hear, and to use the language of opera as storytelling in music to share it so potently and from such a personal place gives me hope that opera is an expressive form for everyone,” McCarthy added. “I want to congratulate all the young creators and thank them for helping to show us the way forward.”

Perthyn can be viewed below.