Lòvelease: Libretto For a One-Act Chamber Opera

In the mid-twenty-first century, loneliness has become a public health crisis. The answer is the System: a state-mandated infrastructure that assigns every adult a series of monitored dates and places them in renewable three-year relationships known as leases. Commitment is now a contract. Love is now compliance.

LÒVELEASE follows four people across two rooms, two simultaneous dates, thirty minutes on the clock. What begins as small talk about hobbies and sailing and pasta salad becomes something far more dangerous - for everyone in the room.

A libretto for a one-act chamber opera, LÒVELEASE is a story of yearning, loneliness, passion and ultimately love, masquerading as a suspenseful thriller. Because freedom and love, in the end, cannot be controlled.

LÒVELEASE was commissioned for NEUE SZENEN VI by the Deutsche Oper Berlin and the Hochschule für Musik Hanns Eisler Berlin, with music by Germán Alonso. World premiere: 21 April 2023, Tischlerei der Deutschen Oper Berlin.