An Evening of Opera: Kepler's Trial

Enjoy an evening of innovative, multi-media opera from award-winning composer Tim Watts, including a thought-provoking discussion of the work and its development, led by Dame Marina WarnerKepler's Trial

6.30pm, The Lydia & Manfred Gorvy Lecture Theatre, V&A

Based on Ulinka Rublack’s groundbreaking book 'The Astronomer and the Witch', this innovative piece of theatre brings Kepler’s world to life through vivid evocations of 17th-century hymns and drinking songs, performed by The Gesualdo Six, alongside a colourful instrumental ensemble that includes the haunting sonorities of cornett and sackbut. Video sequences from internationally acclaimed artist, Aura Satz, reanimate museum artefacts in revelatory ways. Words recorded in courtroom transcripts 400 years ago reverberate once more on a different stage. And a voice from the margins of history – female, ageing, widowed, illiterate – is heard afresh, her tale retold.

The performance will be preceded by a discussion in which Ulinka Rublack, Tim Watts and Aura Satz will be joined by Dame Marina Warner and Simon Schaffer, Professor of History of Science at the University of Cambridge, who contributed to the opera’s unique process of development.

TICKETS: £25. Includes wine reception.