Premiere — Homosexual necrophiliac duck opera, with scientist, at King’s Cross

You are invited to the grand public premier of Kees Moeliker (scientist, discoverer of the actual duck) and Dan Gillingwater (composer)’s Homosexual Necrophiliac Duck Opera. Based on Kees Moeliker’s 2003 Ig Nobel Prize-winning study “The first case of homosexual necrophilia in the mallard“.

The performances will take place on 8th and 9th August 2015 at Kings Place, London, as part of the Tete a Tete Opera Festival. Here’s how to get TICKETS.

Starring Sarah Redmond as Kees Moeliker, with a sung chorus and contemporary dancers portraying the ducks in question, accompanied by the Edge Ensemble and introducing Kees Moeliker (in person) playing the duck call.

Here’s a preview, in The Times.

And here’s a bit of opera history: The opera had a test run last year — a single, spectacular performance at Imperial College London, as part of the 2014 Ig Nobel Tour of the UK. The composer has drawn on the lessons learned that night, tweaked the duck, and cooked up an even more splendiferous offering for this grand public premiere.

What, exactly, is homosexual necrophilia in the mallard duck, and how did it all come to this? Kees Moeliker answered those questions in his notorious TED Talk: