Three Marys

Three Marys melds music, myth and imagination to create a moving story of exile, survival and hope.

An international collaboration by award-winning artists composer Andrée Greenwell and librettist Christine Evans, this fully staged chamber opera tells an intergenerational story of a family of women who must flee for their lives.

Inspired by the French medieval legend of the biblical Three Marys, the tale follows the perilous journey of Maria, Magdalena and Sarah-Marie as they are banished from their homeland and forced out to sea in an oarless boat.

On their journey they encounter the opera’s Teen Chorus, the spirits of refugee children lost at sea – their memories and their names slipping away. Only Marzoug the fisherman is anchored to the land, by his promise to honour the stories of those thrown back by the ocean. He keeps watch.

Stripped to the raw elements of exile, the ocean, and survival, the women’s voices echo across the ages as people from all backgrounds still undertake desperate ocean journeys in search of refuge.

Presented by Sydney Opera House

A Green Room Music Production

Supporter and Funding Acknowledgements
Restart Investment to Sustain and Expand (RISE) Fund – an Australian Government initiative
Australian Government through the Australia Council, its arts funding and advisory body.
NSW Government through Create NSW
Confederation of Australian International Arts Festivals (CAIAF)
Opera Queensland
Queensland Performing Arts Centre (QPAC)
Australian Cultural Fund (ACF)
Inner West Council
George A. and Eliza Gardner Howard Foundation