The chamber opera The Curing Line, composed by Michael Gallen, premiered on August 6 at the Kilkenny Arts Festival in Ireland. The opera will later be performed in Strasbourg at the Musica festival and in Paris at the Théâtre de la Ville. The plot follows a family where the father has a unique healing ability that he must pass on. He chooses his adopted daughter, Cora, over his biological daughter, Eileen. After the father’s death, the relationship between the two sisters becomes strained, and Cora appears to lose the healing power, symbolized by the loss of "The Curing Line." The opera uses this story as a metaphor for a divided world and the loss of self-healing, but it is primarily about the evolving and complex relationship between the two sisters, exploring themes of division, separation, death, and remorse. As an opera, it combines text, musical theater, singing, and an ensemble orchestra. The libretto alternates between contemporary, vulgar language and delicate poetry, with lyrical singing mixed with sprechgesang, a German term for a style of speech-like singing, or spoken text. The orchestra, made up of just a few soloists, has a sound reminiscent of a jazz-folk group. The production is directed by the composer himself, with video design by Shawn Fitzgerald Ahern. The use of cinema is integrated through real-time filming of the actors and projecting the footage onto a mobile screen, as well as pre-recorded flashbacks. The blending of genres is notable, with moments that make it unclear whether the singers are performing live, soundtracked, or miming over pre-recorded tracks. This mixing of techniques is not seen as disruptive but rather as technically well-executed, allowing voices to project clearly without overexerting the performers, while keeping the texts clear and understandable. The music and texts become more percussive and emotionally powerful, enhancing the emotional and poetic elements of the story. Intense moments include flashbacks of patients describing their healing, duets between the two sisters, and the final scene where Cora’s voice, now a whisper, is carried over the Irish moorland amid wind and foliage. Despite its complex and multi-technique nature, The Curing Line is described as coherent and well-balanced, with a powerful story and fascinating, even enchanting, music. Though the ensemble is small, the artistic performance is remarkable.