Who composed the opera The Handmaid's Tale?

Poul Ruders composed the opera *The Handmaid's Tale*.

Ruders is a Danish composer who created the opera from Margaret Atwood's dystopian novel. The libretto was written by Paul Bentley, who transformed the novel's first-person narrative into a staged work with a prologue, two acts, and an epilogue.

Although the opera is associated with a 1998 composition date, its world premiere took place at the Danish Royal Opera in Copenhagen on March 6, 2000. The original commission called for performances in Danish, while productions outside Denmark have generally used Bentley's English libretto.

The adaptation preserves the story's setting in Gilead but adds framing through a future academic conference examining the fallen republic. Its musical language is free-tonal and draws on modernist influences, using harsh dissonance, ritualistic choral writing, and contrasting lyrical passages to reflect the novel's oppressive world.