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 2025Story and lyrics for two singers
Composer: Moritz Sembritzki
An album about art, purpose and female communion.
Boxed In
2025Libretto for chamber opera with four singers
Composer: Courtney Cousins
Premiere: Angela Burgess Recital Hall, London, UK
13 March 2025An opera about family and the stories we tell ourselves. Three 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. 
open libretto excerpt
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 An opera about grief, puberty and radical empathy. 
As teenage runaway Arthur grieves in a forest over the death of his dog, a young bear cub nearby struggles to comprehend a terrible loss of its own. Amidst the trees, the two must come to terms with their new situation 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
Born To Be Gentle
2020Text and music 
Composer: Alexia Peniguel
EP: “If I Forgive” by Alex St Joan
Release: 2020 by Zellephan Records A song that explores what it is to fight a battle, lose and live beyond the loss.
open lyrics
Kick & Rise
2019Text and music for layered voice and saxaphone
Composer: Alexia Peniguel
EP: “Kick & Rise” by Alex St Joan
Release: 2019 by Zellephan Records A piece inspired by the intense underwater pressure of the ocean and the parallels between that and the expectations of others. 
open lyrics

link to live video
Ducks and Drakes
2015Text and music 
Composer: Alexia Peniguel
Album: “Of Birds” by A Seated Craft
Release: 2015 by Revolver RecordsReflections on insomnia and fatigue that cannot be relieved, like a stone skipping endlessly across the surface of a lake, never able to sink under.
open lyrics

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