Programme Notes

I’d long harboured the idea for an opera concerning missileers - the USAF crew whose job it is to station the nuclear bunkers of the United States’ nuclear arsenal, and to launch those missiles should the order come to do so. In 2019, I was introduced to the librettist, playwright and author Sophia Chapadjiev via the artistic director of Tete a Tete opera company, Bill Bankes Jones. Sophia took my idea and wrote out a story concerning two young men, Lieutenants Martinez and Walker, as they go on duty in the midst of a presidential election; they are observed and commented on by a “Trinity Set”, who are three sopranos acting as a Greek Chorus.

We were going to premiere the opera in its entirety in the 2020 Tete a Tete Opera Festival, but COVID-19 prevented us from showing it in its entirety. However, we were still able to give an “avante premiere” where we showcased a few of the opera’s scenes at the Cockpit Theatre in London.

The opera is dedicated to the memory of Dr. Bruce Blair (1947-2020), ex-missileer and co-founder of Global Zero, an international movement for the elimination of all nuclear weapons.