Errollyn Wallen's 'A Christmas Miracle' to Premiere at Orford Church in 2026

Errollyn Wallen, Master of the King's Music, will see her new community opera "A Christmas Miracle" premiere at Orford Church on Nov. 20 and 21, 2026. Mahogany Opera presents the work, with Britten Pears Arts as co-producer. Jubilee Opera and Orkney Music and Culture also support the production.

The project has an unusual origin. It draws on Benjamin Britten's unrealized plans for an intergenerational community opera on the Christmas story, which he intended to call "A Christmas Sequence." Wallen's work uses text from the Chester Mystery Plays (medieval dramas staging biblical stories) and includes settings of Christmas carols designed for audience participation.

Frederic Wake-Walker directs, and John Andrews conducts. Ruth Paton serves as lead designer. The Jerwood Foundation supports Jodi Rabinowitz's work as lighting designer.

Who sings what?

The cast splits its central role. Sopranos Hilary Cronin and Emma Tring share the Angel Gabriel. Countertenor Andrew Watts sings Herod, and mezzo-soprano Idunnu Münch takes on Melchior. Actor-singer Nick Mercer plays Preco/MC, and Robert Gildon is cast as Balthasar.

Ensemble X, a professional chamber group, performs, and amateur musicians recruited in each location will support the players in certain sections. That mix is the point: a community opera depends on local participants alongside professionals.

What does this change for audiences?

Orford Church hosts the first performance on Nov. 20, 2026 at 6:30 p.m. Two more follow on Nov. 21, at 3 p.m. and 6:30 p.m. The production then travels to St. Magnus Cathedral in Orkney — Wallen's home — for performances on Dec. 4 and 5, 2026.

For anyone tracking contemporary British opera, the premiere completes a circle. Britten sketched his community Christmas opera decades ago and never realized it; Wallen, working with the organization that stewards his legacy at the site of his Aldeburgh Festival roots, now brings a version of that idea to the stage.