Composer Cat Hope‘s Speechless is a wordless opera.

Based on a graphic score derived from images and graphs in the report itself, it has developed over several years but remains rooted in Hope’s personal response to the 2014 Human Rights Commission report The Forgotten Children: National Inquiry into Children in Immigration Detention.

“When the Forgotten Children Report was tabled and rejected in Australian Parliament, I was overcome by a feeling of voicelessness,” said Hope when the work premiered in the 2019 Perth Festival. “Speechless is my response to the plight of refugee’s world wide – my protest and plea to citizens of democratic nations to maintain humanitarian values in the face of a changing world.”

On 3 May, the European premiere of a chamber concert version will be premiered as part of the Ligeti Festival, celebrating Gyorg Ligeti’s centenary, at the Hochschule for Musik and Theatre in Hamburg, Germany.

Ahead of that performance, Limelight grabbed a moment of Hope’s time to reflect on Speechless, its evolution, and the ways in which it speaks to this troubled moment.

Speechless. Photo © Claudia Höhne

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