Denis & Katya won the Fedora Generali Prize for Opera in 2019 and the Ivors Composer Award for Stage Works in 2020. It premiered in September 2019 with Opera Philadelphia and has since been produced in cities including Wales, London, Montpellier, Amsterdam, Hannover, and Cambridge, with future productions scheduled in Pittsburgh, Helsinki, Copenhagen, and Hannover.

Denis & Katya follows the accounts of the true story of two 15-year-old Russian teenagers Denis Muravyov and Katya Vlasova. Their story was reported worldwide in November 2016 after they ran away from home together and hid in a family-owned hunting cabin in Strugi Krasnye. After a few days, the police surrounded the house, and the situation escalated and the pair died of gunshot wounds on November 16, 2016. Other circumstances of their death are unclear. They live-broadcast on social media frequently during the three days in the cabin, engaging with on-line viewers as they filmed while in the midst of a standoff with Russian Special Forces. 

The text is derived from interviews with those close to the events, such as Denis's best friend and a journalist who covered the story, with additional fictionalized accounts based on press reports. The opera explores storytelling, both in real life and online, with six characters narrating the events, re-enacted by two performers in spontaneous roleplay theatre.