Emma and the Blue Baku

Emma is a difficult, strong-willed lonely eight year-old. Emma’s dreams are eaten by the Baku, except for her nightmares, which the Baku cannot digest. Emma keeps waking up and her mother must keep putting her back to bed so she can sleep well and be ready for her math exam in the morning. Emma discovers the existence of the Baku in her sleep, when he cannot digest one of her nightmares, and comes to realise how dif cult his life is made by his strange diet of dreams. When Emma falls back to sleep she has a very sweet dream in which she learns the importance of other people, and the Baku realises, that despite his hunger, he cannot eat Emma’s most beautiful dream, a dream which also gives her the answers to her upcoming maths test. In the morning, Emma goes off to school and her mother is left with the Baku. The opera ends with Emma taking her math test with her friends, and she uses the special dream the Baku left her for inspiration.

Music by Bruce Adolphe

Libretto James M. Bradburne

This opera was made possible by the generosity of
Maria and Jan Shrem

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