Richard Dawkins appears as a disembodied voice in the composer Kevin Malone's new opera, Mysterious 44.

It was 1490 – winter. Austria was far away from the world and asleep; it was still the Middle Ages in Austria and promised to remain so for ever. Some even set it away back centuries upon centuries and said that by the mental and spiritual clock it was still the Age of Belief.

• Mysterious 44 opens at Hallé St Peter's in Manchester on Saturday 24 May 2014