Street Art Operas
Street Art Opera introduced a new way of experiencing opera as a relevant, accessible and exciting form. Created to be projected onto a wall and listened to on silent-disco headphones, the pieces used the impact and visual language of Street Art, animated into operatic storytelling.
Like all Street Art, these pieces told stories about NOW, with strong social and personal messages at their core.
In October 2024, we launched our first commissioned Street Art Operas as part of Llais and Cardiff Music City Festival, projected onto the front of Wales Millennium Centre. This marked the conclusion to the Music and Race Showcase presented by Ty Cerdd and Black Lives in Music, and the works were also shown at the community-run Grange Pavilion, in the heart of one of Cardiff’s most diverse neighbourhoods.
These new works, created by Welsh creative teams including music creator Eadyth and composer Claire Victoria Roberts in collaboration with street artists, animators, writers, physical performers and filmmakers, explored themes of personal expression and the release of individual creativity, alongside a distinctive reflection on the climate crisis and how nature might respond.
Each piece lasts around 10 minutes and includes text in English and Welsh – and Urdu in the case of Rahmat-Mercy-Trugaredd – as part of a rich and striking visual language.
Our Street Art Opera programme began in Summer 2023 with the presentation of The Scorched Earth Trilogy, originally created by Dumbworld for Irish National Opera.
In May 2025, we toured our Street Art Operas across Wales, bringing these powerful and visually striking works into new communities and public spaces, from Wrexham to Saundersfoot, Rhondda to Butetown – offering a unique operatic experience like no other.
Commission Opportunity for Creators: Street Art Opera
Street Art Opera is back. After the buzz around our last commissions – Rahmat-Mercy-Tugaredd and Out of Time – MTW is inviting Welsh artists, and artists developing their practice in […]
The Operas
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- Mercy-Rahmat-Trugaredd
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- Mercy-Rahmat-Trugaredd
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- Mercy-Rahmat-Trugaredd
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- Mercy-Rahmat-Trugaredd
Rahmat-Mercy-Trugaredd
By Amelia Unity, Eadyth, Sam Hussain and Jamie TC Panton. Vocals by Eadyth, Sam Hussain and Richard Parry.
Inspired by Sufism and hip-hop culture, Rahmat-Mercy-Trugaredd reveals how creativity can be harnessed as a spiritual practice, following Sana as she pushes back against cultural and societal restraints to explore her innate creativity and claim her place in the world. In blending henna and graffiti-inspired visuals with powerful, soaring music, this uplifting work celebrates Sana’s journey of empowerment, as the world around her blossoms.
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- Out of Time
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- Out of Time
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- Out of Time
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- Out of Time
Out of Time
By Claire Victoria Roberts, Giselle Ty and Lauren Orme. Music perfromed by Sinfonia Cymru.
Winner of Best Welsh Performance Film at Focus Wales 2025.
A darkly comic and fantastical tale of a future apocalypse in which nature reclaims its beauty and abundance. Instead of human destruction and depletion, plants and animals rebel against extinction, disrupting everyday life to saturate streets and cities with kaleidoscopic colour. As the natural world thrives, is it too late to apologise to the Earth? From whimsical to psychedelic, an operatic rage ensues.
Bonus Content
Take a look behind the scenes with the playlist below — featuring audience reactions from the tour and a special look at how Rahmat-Mercy-Trugaredd was created.
Partners
Presented in collaboration with: Sinfonia Cymru, Wrecsam2029, Span Arts, Rhondda Arts Festival, Grange Pavilion, Cardiff Community Housing Association.
Funders
