When the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic hit, performance art as we knew it came to a halt. We had to completely reimagine everything we thought we knew about opera.
In March of 2020 we were gearing up for our first annual gala to raise money for our HUGE season we had planned. We had over 20 composers from 4 different countries, and 10 singers lined up to perform a variety of new short-operas, song cycles, scenes, trios, quartets, and solos!
Then the world shut down, and we had made promises to these composers from all over the world that we were going to be their platform for their new opera works.
We couldn't break our promise to perform these pieces, so we went back to the drawing board and found a way to produce filmed versions of our new opera pieces! This medium was completely foreign to us both, and it has been a huge feat to figure out how to produce recorded opera, film it, and edit it all together.
We are so proud of what we have been able to produce, and these singers, accompanists, and composers have worked so incredibly hard to fit into this new medium.
With all that said, it has been equally as difficult to get the audience numbers we had for our in-person performances. There are upsides and downsides to both mediums! One wonderful perk is our friends from around the world were able to attend our premieres with us, which we were so thankful for! A downside is a lot of our audience was very unsure about a filmed and virtual medium for opera. We are still in the learning process for this new medium, but we continuing to improve our processes and will be producing more filmed premieres during our 2022-2023 season!
While you anxiously await our new premieres, check out our FIRST opera films from our 2021 season!
We have a great mix of genres, from a very relatable woman will a full bladder stuck in traffic (Non Motus), to a Gothic horror tale about the uneasy relationship between life and art (The Oval Portrait).