ALEXIA PENIGUEL
SONGWRITER + LIBRETTIST



Ursa Minor. Karima El Demerdasch and Biqing Zhang. Milton Court Studio Theatre, London, June 2024.
Photo: Zoe Birkbeck for Guildhall School of Music and Drama.

WORK
Eden 2.0
Upcoming 2026Libretto for chamber opera with five singers
Composer: William Gardner
An opera about utopia, second chances and human fallibility.
Holding On To Wonder
Upcoming 2025Concept, story and lyrics for two singers
Composer: Moritz Sembritzki
An album about art, wonder, ambition and female communion.
Boxed In
2025Libretto for chamber opera with four singers
Composer: Courtney Cousins
Premiere: Angela Burgess Recital Hall, London, UK
13 March 2025Three siblings and a spouse get trapped in a storage unit while going through their parents’ belongings. As panic rises,  the two eldest must decide whether or not to reveal a secret about their father to the youngest. 
Ursa Minor
2024 Libretto for chamber opera with four singers
Composer: Zygmund de Somogyi
Premiere: Milton Court Studio Theatre, London, UK
20 - 25 June 2024 Synopsis
In a dark forest, runaway teenage Arthur is heartbroken over the death of his dog and enraged at his parents’ attempt to rationalise it. Close by, a young bear cub struggles to comprehend a terrible loss of its own. Amidst the trees, the two must come to terms with their shifting sense of self, and a harrowing decision must be made as Arthur’s mothers get closer to finding them. 
open libretto excerpt  

old logic
2024 Text for one singer
Composer: Darius Paymai
Premiere: Milton Court Concert Hall, London, UK
22 May 2024 A piece written with composer Darius Paymai, soprano Harriet Cameron and pianist Jungyi Cao about the unreliability of memory and how to reconcile what fades as time passes. The live performance further embraces fragmentation.
open lyrics
Trio
2024 Text for one singer
Composer: Reuben Esterhuizen
Premiere: Milton Court Concert Hall, London, UK
22 May 2024 A piece written with composer Reuben Esterhuizen and mezzo-soprano Hella Termeulen. The text originates from the overlap of our  different cultural heritages and commonalities in slang.
open lyrics
link to video
Slowly
2022 Text for two singers
Composer: Moritz Sembritzki
Album: “Magnetic Ghost Orchestra”
Release: 2022 by Fun In The Church  A vignette about climate breakdown that frames denial from the perspective of a person lying nonchalant in bed, impervious to the water rising around them even as their bed begins to float. 
open lyrics
link to video
Kick & Rise
2019Text and music for layered voice and saxaphone
Composer: Alexia Peniguel
EP: “Kick & Rise”
Release: 2019 by Zellaphan Records Written for avant-pop project Alex St Joan, inspired by the intense underwater pressure of the ocean and the parallels between that weight and the expectations of others. 
open lyrics


link to video
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