Back to NewsSupport sustainable innovation in opera and dance
Outdated browser
Denis & Katya © Opera Philadelphia i
From the Press "Unconventional new opera Denis & Katya challenges the ear, the eye, and the soul"
Details
20 September 2019
Philadelphia / United States
Denis & Katya
Winners, FEDORA Prizes
Composer Philip Venables and Director Ted Huffman © Dominic Mercier i
THE PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER: Opera Philadelphia’s Festival O19 opens with game-changing world premiere Denis & Katya
September 19, 2019
“Opera Philadelphia opened its Festival O19 Wednesday on a level that eclipsed the expectations created by the unusually high success rate of past festivals, this time with the world premiere of Denis & Katya. Highly experimental in its manner, the piece exudes great confidence of purpose plus gritty, thoughtful artistry — in the spirit of O19’s commitment to making opera a distinctly 21st century thing.”
MUSICAL AMERICA: Philadelphia’s O19 gets underway with with the brilliant Denis & Katya
September 20, 2019
“Not only is Venables’s newest creation the most brilliantly original operatic work I’ve seen in a decade, it’s a sensitive, subtle, and deeply questioning meditation on youth, voyeurism, and the age of social media.”
OPERA NEWS: Denis & Katya
September 18, 2019
“Miller's luminous personal timbre and Hoffman's wide-ranging plangent security and exceptional diction complement one another; both artists call on affecting emotive coloration and keen dynamic shading”
BROADWAY WORLD: The world premiere of Denis & Katya at Opera Philadelphia
September 19, 2019
“Each piece of Denis & Katya is impeccably thought out … There has not been a piece of theater that has made me think so deeply in a very long time.”
OPERA TODAY: Edgy, Haunting Denis & Katya
September 20, 2019
“Composer Philip Venables and Librettist Ted Huffman’s unsettling, unconventional new opera Denis & Katya challenges the ear, the eye, and the soul to accept a wholly new hybrid form of operatic expression.”
PARTERRE BOX: Total Ellipse
September 21, 2019
“What I really want to leave you with is the sense that this is an important, out-of-the-box work, superbly performed. Denis & Katya deserves to have a long afterlife, and with luck, it will.”
“In addition to their beautiful voices, Miller and Hoffman display something perhaps even rarer: a sense of complete ease and comfort onstage, while at the same time bringing laser-like focus to the drama.”
Discover other stories
FEDORA Prizes, Winners
Opéra de Lille
Premiere of the FEDORA Opera Prize's Winner 2021
21 January 2022
Lille / France
On 21 January the winner of the FEDORA Opera Prize 2021, Like flesh, reached the stage. This new poetic and inspiring creation, which was led by Opéra de Lille, is the first opera of the Composer Sivan Eldar and the Librettist Cordelia Lynn.
Read more
Industry News, Winners
Breaking Ballet Boundaries: FEDORA - VAN CLEEF & ARPELS Dance Prize 2025 Winner "Gentleman Jack" Featured in The New York Times
03 March 2026
The FEDORA - VAN CLEEF & ARPELS Dance Prize 2025 Winner, Gentleman Jack, has captured the attention of international audiences with a feature in The New York Times by Laura Cappelle.
Read more
Industry News, Winners
Northern Ballet
“Gentleman Jack” Premieres in Leeds: Reimagining History Through Dance and Storytelling
26 February 2026
Leeds / United Kingdom
Gentleman Jack, the groundbreaking new ballet from Northern Ballet and winner of the FEDORA – VAN CLEEF & ARPELS Dance Prize 2025, will have its highly anticipated world premiere at Leeds Grand Theatre on 7 March 2026.
Read more
