In the three years that Festival O has been a musical fixture in Philadelphia, its greatest impact has often come through its smallest works. 

Take Denis & Katya, a superb new two-hander chamber opera by composer Philip Venables and librettist Ted Huffman. What a stark contrast from last night’s gala opening! The enormous, razzle-dazzle The Love for Three Oranges at the Academy of Music was a lot of fun, for sure. But this afternoon, half a block away, and employing the most slimly elegant resources, Denis & Katya was a monumental, dramatically shattering event…

Read the full review at Parterre Box.