Cirrus@Austlit

'Cosmonaut has its origins in the tumultuous events that lead to the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991-92. Seen from afar, this was history unfolding as a series of media images, in which the crowd – on the street, in the square, occupying the Duma – was the principal actor. 

'In Cosmonaut, a Russian cosmonaut is stranded in orbit around the earth as the communist bloc collapses. On earth and beneath the stars, a woman effects a connection between herself and the distant astronaut. The opera takes place over four orbits as the cosmonaut listens to grabs of intercepted transmissions while the political situation on Earth twists and turns. During this time, he communicates for brief moments with Angela, isolated in her suburban Australian bedroom.'

Source: Production blurb.