The Monster in the Maze (2015)
(Opera for Children, Young People and Adults)

Scored for three professional soloists and a professional actor, adult community chorus, youth chorus, children’s chorus, and an orchestra of professional players playing alongside young or pre-professional players drawn from the local area, The Monster in the Maze is an opera designed to celebrate an arts organisation’s relationship with its community.

Dove and librettist Alasdair Middleton sought a universal topic for the work which could be told by a large group of children, deciding on the ancient Greek story which tells of the heroic rescue from the Labyrinth, by Theseus, of young Athenians sent to Crete as a sacrifice to the Minotaur.

Premiered in German, English and French under the baton of Sir Simon Rattle in 2015, the opera has since been translated into Chinese/Taiwanese, Portuguese, Swedish, and Catalan, as this remarkable work continues to enthral audiences and participants across the globe.