Welsh National Youth Opera - Stephen McNeff: 2117-Hedd Wyn (2022)

This Welsh-language opera by composer Stephen McNeff and librettist Gruff Rhys (of Super Furry Animals) is set in 2117 – 200 years after the death, in the World War I trenches, of iconic Welsh bard Hedd Wyn. In the intervening years, a nuclear disaster at the Trawsfynydd power station has displaced communities; an intense dosage of radiation has blurred the distinction between past, present and future, and the Welsh language faces extinction…

The enthralling drama instils a dystopian future with Welsh mythology and Hedd Wyn’s own verse. It is performed by a cast of opera soloists, WNO Orchestra and Youth Opera, and Only Boys Aloud, under the baton of the composer.