SVADBA     We have commissioned a new work from composer Ana Sokolovic. The opera has a working title of ‘Svadba’ (The Wedding) and is being written for six female singers and one instrumentalist. The opera takes place the night before a wedding. On this night, universal pagan rituals are invoked and enacted between the women – a type of ‘Sex in the City’ girltalk, using Slavic peasant texts and Balkan folk music as the source of inspiration. The composer is using existing textual sources and librettist Antoine Laprise will create the framework for these texts. Queen of Puddings commissioned a 10 minute work from Ana in 2000 for six female voices. The work she composed then (Sirens/Sirènes) was so magnificent that we were inspired to commission a full length work for the same forces from Ana.     Beauty Dissolves in a Brief Hour     comprises three 15 minute works commissioned from three different composers (Fuhong Shi, John Rea, Pierre Klanac), scored for two female voices and accordion. The texts of the three works have a thematic through line and will be developed into an unfolding fully staged cohesive music-theatre work. It will be sung respectively in Chinese, English and French. The choice of composers, texts and language gives us the opportunity to approach each work from a different cultural perspective, while using the text images and emotions as connective threads to create the overall sensibility of the production.