Pay the Piper is our 2022 Youth Opera by our four Balancing the Score composers featuring a cast of professional singers, a chorus drawn from the local community, Glyndebourne Youth Opera, and the Glyndebourne Youth Orchestra.

The town of Hamelin had a problem with rats. It was completely over-run; they were making nests in people’s clothes and eating all the food. The people of Hamelin looked to the Mayor for a solution and then a stranger came into town offering to get rid of the rats, for a price.

Directed by our Artistic Director, Stephen Langridge, based on the ideas and concept developed by Sinéad O’Neill and Joanna Parker. The youth opera was written by our Balancing the Score composers with a libretto by Hazel Gould. Conductor Johann Stuckenbruck leads Psappha, an ensemble specialising in new music, with a chorus of 70 young people and three professional singers.