A chamber opera in one act based on the novel The Trial of Elizabeth Cree by Peter Ackroyd

Music by Kevin Puts, Libretto by Mark Campbell

Directed by Gregory Keller and Kirk Severtson

Department of Voice and the University Philharmonia Orchestra
March 21 – March 24, 2024 • Lydia Mendelssohn Theatre

A one-act chamber opera based on Peter Ackroyd’s “downright exhilarating” (LA Times) novel, The Trial of Elizabeth Cree. 

Set in London in the 1880s, this highly suspenseful and theatrical opera interweaves several narratives: the trial of the titular heroine for the poisoning of her husband; a series of brutal murders committed by a Jack the Ripper-style killer; the spirited world of an English music hall; and, finally, some “guest appearances” by luminaries from the Victorian Age. Elizabeth Cree is a work that combines the factual with the fictional and the historical with the imaginary.