27 June-27 June 2004

A Guantanamo Human Rights Commission Benefit
MANIFEST DESTINY
Music by Keith Burstein, Libretto by Dic Edwards
“Terrorist opera set to storm theatre world: Al-Qaeda love story ends in Camp X-Ray… Great operas have often been written about ugly and brutal subjects but acts of global terrorism have rarely inspired classical composers. Now, that is about to change.” The Observer
“British opera breaks radical new ground”  Reuters
Manifest Destiny tells the story of Leila, a young Muslim poet studying in Britain who heads to the Middle East to join a suicide cell. Betrayed by one of the group, Leila is captured and taken to Guantanamo Bay.

Keith Burnstein previous work includes three large scale choral works to mark the Millienium. THE GATES OF TIME and ALFEGE were both commissioned by the Thomas Tallis Society of Greenwich. THE YEAR”S MIDNIGHT, a meditation on the holocaust, was commissioned by the Zemel Choir and premiered in St John Smith’’s Square in 2000 before being broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in January 2001 for Holocaust Memorial Day.