Nominated for British Composer Award 2008 in the Stage Works category

Gramophone

Compulsive disorders make a fascinating subject for an opera... This revolves around figures who are all, more or less, dysfunctional... the cast is a lively and committed one - they and the musicians interacting with that tightness of ensemble which makes The Opera Group a vital force among present-day companies.
NMC D146
Libretto by Dagny Gioulami 
Produces by The Opera Group

The Cast

Darren Abrahams, tenor - Christoph
        Anna Dennis, soprano - Francesca, his girlfriend
    Phyllis Cannan, contralto - Adele, his mother
Richard Burkhard, baritone - Oliver, a police officer
    Louise Mott, mezzo-soprano - Cordula, a psychiatrist
Paul Reeves, bass - Roger, retired journalist

Paul Plummer - assistant conductor
John Fulljames - director
Patrick Bailey - conductor
The Times
Currently based in Zurich, he works as a freelance composer and pianist. Concert works have been commissioned for and played by such groups as the Endymion Ensemble, London Sinfonietta, Schubert Ensemble, Birmingham Contemporary Music Group and the London Symphony Orchestra. His refreshing and very funny new opera, The Shops, is described as ‘part satire on rampant consumerism, part psychological thriller’.Adventurously scored for five clarinets, violin, two cellos, double bass and percussion, The Shops has a sharply lyrical libretto by Rushton’s wife, Dagny Gioulami. ‘A lemon sorbet of an opera.’'