What's up Birmingham Opera Online The Decision Online Comrades! Mission accomplished! Freedom is here! We are hopeful for the future and grateful for our success! Birmingham Opera Company welcomed comrades to The Party HQ in March 2023 for a new production of Bertolt Brecht and Hans Eisler’s The Decision. You can still catch up with excerpts on OperaVision, or check out the trailer and production shots below. Four agitators are dispatched from Soviet Russia to foster revolution in pre-communist China. En route they meet a young sympathiser who offers to be their guide, but when they return to Moscow, they confess to his killing. When is it right to kill? Brimming with highly charged drama, music and moral dilemma, this rarely performed, provocative work proved an exciting challenge for our volunteers, artists, and audiences alike. ★★★★ The Stage ★★★★ The Observer "Impressive...immersive...delivered with conviction" - The Stage "an encounter with a genuinely evil work of art" - The Spectator "one hell of a party!"- Audience member Content Advisory This production contains scenes of a violent nature and use of strobe lighting. Watch The Decision on OperaVision Watch the trailer Production Images Paksie Vernon, The Decision, BOC, photo by Adam Fradgley Wendy Dawn Thompson, Mezzo Soprano, The Decision, BOC, photo by Adam Fradgley THE PARTY ACKNOWLEDGES Text and Lyrics Bertolt Brecht Music Hanns Eisler Translation John Willett Director Anthony Almeida Conductor Alpesh Chauhan OBE Designer Claudia Fragoso Chorus Directors Mariana Rosas and Themba Mvula The Agitators Aimee Berwick Paksie Vernon Therese Collins Wendy Dawn Thompson The Party Birmingham Opera Company Chorus & Actors Birmingham Opera Company Orchestra Visiting Delegates (aka. The Public as themselves) By arrangement with Universal Edition as agent for Hanns Eisler and Alan Brodie Representation as agent for The Estate of Bertolt Brecht. Manage Cookie Preferences