Medusa
Edinburgh International Festival
11 August 2026
Book tickets here.
The Queen’s Hall
Scottish mezzo soprano Beth Taylor, praised by the Telegraph for her ‘tender and magnificent’ tone, makes her Festival debut with regular collaborator, pianist Hamish Brown. Their carefully curated recital is inspired by the sea and iconic female figures from myth from the Lorelei to Cassandra and Medusa.
Women composers are especially well represented in this programme. Among the many treats are Ethel Smyth’s atmospheric Three Moods of the Sea, Lili Boulanger’s pensive Reflets, Clara Schumann’s thrilling Die Lorelei and rapt chants by medieval composers Kassia and Hildegard of Bingen. There’s also a rare chance to hear songs from the enigmatic singer-songwriter and activist Connie Converse’s last known work – the haunting Cassandra Cycle.
Beth Taylor also performs two works specially written for her. Cameron Biles-Liddell’s The Breakersevokes Scottish seascapes, while Stuart MacRae and poet JL Williams look through Medusa’s many eyes to seek the humanity behind the monstrous image.
The Wish Gatherer
Nominated in Best Opera category for the 2023 YAM Awards.
The Wish Gatherer is the first instalment in English Touring Opera’s trilogy of Climate Change operas. Made in collaboration with Julie’s Bicycle, The Wish Gatherer explores the impact of climate change on the natural world, in a national curriculum-linked adventure story. The story follows Lola, a young girl struggling with the effects on her world after COVID, her parent’s recent divorce and the climate crisis. Join Lola on her journey, and meet the magical Wish Gatherer, the mysterious and dark Muddier, the disenchanted bee, Bumbella, and the enterprising Seed Planter, in this story of beauty, loss, revolution, and new beginnings.
Beauty and the Seven Beasts
Shortlisted for a Fedora Award, 2021
“In just seven dates, we can guarantee you will find your true love’s destiny”
Too good to be true? Beauty tests the hottest dating app!
Seven dates, seven sins. Each written by a different team of the most promising composers and librettists out there, in a multimedia format, for our return to the stage and first visit to Brixton.
Episodes
2020 RPS Inspiration Award winner
Episodes, a 2020 project by The Opera Story, brings together several young composers and librettists to create a series of short opera videos created during the COVID-19 crisis. Watch all the Episodes here.
ENAensemble X Philadelphia Fringe Festival 2019
The Elevator
The main focus of this project is having each episode set in the same apartment building with a problematic (noisy, broken, unreliable) elevator. How the characters interact within (and between) each episode is up to you…
Engender: Royal Opera House
In July 2019, I joined the amazing composer Samantha Fernando for a week at the Royal Opera House where we had been invited to develop our opera Mussitātiō in the Engender Open Studio programme.
Jerwood Opera Writing Foundation Year 2014/15
My opera writing experience began here – an incredible year working with super talented artists at Snape Maltings.
Snow: The Opera
It was a privilege to write the libretto for the first production by innovative London-based opera company The Opera Story. Snow is a three-act opera inspired by the story of Snow White that most of us know, but told from a fresh, and darker, perspective. Snow premiered in London in February 2017.
JL Williams Poetry 