The No. 11 Bus is a music-theatre work in which musicians dancers and mime all play an equal part. It has been described as an apocalyptic comedy and both comic and terrifying elements should be exploited as far aspossible. The setting is a mythical journey of the No. 11 bus in London which runs between Liverpool Street and Hammersmith. This can be adapted to suit the needs of the particular group that is performing it.Words and musicby Maxwell Davies with German translation by Gunther Bauer-Schenk. Text Only

Chamber opera in a prologue and one act. A ghost story telling of the mysterious disappearance of three lighthouse keepers in the Hebrides. This is a mystery story in the form of a chamber opera. The prologue is set as a courtof enquiry into the unexplained disappearance of the three keepers from a lighthouse. Questions are posed by a solo horn which may sound from among the audience and three officers give answer. Gradually they move from straighttestimony into fantastical imaginings of evil during a 'flashback' to the lighthouse; but then we snap back to the courtroom. In the main act the three singers become the vanished keepers. They have been together for months long enough to be fully aware of each other's weaknesses; petty bickerings suggest a relationship which is stable but liable to become highly unstable at any moment. They sing songs to reduce the tension Blazes beginning with arough ballad of street violence accompanied by violin and banjo. Sandy's song with cello and out-of-tune upright piano is a thinly disguised description of sexual bliss and Arthur's with brass and clarinet is a tub-thumpinghymn. But the songs serve only to resurrect in their minds ghosts from the past and as the fog descends each of the keepers becomes convinced that he is being claimed by the Beast. They prepare to meet its dazzling eyes whichbecome the lights of the relief vessel and the three men reappear as officers met at the lighthouse only by an infestation of rats. They leave and at the end the last hours of Blazes Sandy and Arthur begin to play overagain.Libretto only. Duration c. 1h 25mins.

Peter Maxwell Davies. Cinderella is a light-hearted pantomime opera based on the traditional story with a few new twists by the composer. The first performances of ‘Cinderella’ were given by children in Kirkwall in the OrkneyIslands who were non-specialist and had shown no unusual interest in or aptitude for music. All vocal parts are written within the range of children’s normal unbroken voices although the three Ugly Sisters can be played by olderboys singing an octave lower than written. Eleven solo parts plus chorus and parts for descant treble and tenor recorders trumpet percussion piano and string quintet with optional viola. 60 mins.