We are not totally sure of the difference between an opera and a music-drama, but the UK premiere at Opera Holland Park of Tchaikovsky’s Child of Glass is definitely the latter.  It wrestles with Tchaikovsky’s search for self-expression during a time when his homosexuality was condemned. Forever seeking to share his deepest feelings, yet haunted by the threat of condemnation and ostracism, music becomes Tchaikovsky’s refuge and sole creative outlet, with new arrangements of Tchaikovsky’s masterpieces deftly arranged and performed for solo piano by Jayson Gillham.

Discussion of Tchaikovsky’s personal life, especially his sexuality, has perhaps been among the most extensive of any composer in the 19th century and certainly of any Russian composer of his time. It has also at times caused considerable confusion, from Soviet efforts to expunge all references to homosexuality and portray him as a heterosexual, to efforts at analysis by Western biographers.

In Child of Glass, Tchaikovsky finds himself taunted by a crushing paradox: the more his passion undoes his life, the more it nourishes his music. This dilemma haunts him until, at last, he is brought before a jury of his peers and given a heartbreaking ultimatum. Featuring actors Suzy Kohane and Oliver Holland alongside Tama Matheson, Child of Glass is an electrifying theatrical event that depicts, with incandescent power, Tchaikovsky’s greatness.

“Over the past decade, I’ve been evolving the artistic line of enquiry of what happens at the fusion of drama and music when you mix the biography of great historical figures with the music of their era, and audiences around the world – from Australia to the U.S. and now the U.K. – have been delighting in the discovery. Tchaikovsky’s story may just be the most powerful yet, and I can’t wait for audiences to relive his haunting life with us in Child of Glass,” said playwright and actor Tama Matheson.