The Atlanta Opera Blog
The Atlanta Opera’s Fourth Annual 24-Hour Opera Project®
Let the madness begin!
We’re calling it a creative science project where Verdi meets reality
TV. In just a few hours, composers,
lyricists, singers and stage directors will gather for the kick-off of the Atlanta
Opera’s fourth annual 24-Hour Opera Project® (24HOP).
theme and props they must use in their composition, and then they’ll be randomly
paired and corralled together overnight to write an opera scene. The next morning, bright and early, the new pieces
will be assigned to stage directors, who will in turn draft singers and
accompanists. Together those groups will
have just eight hours to stage, rehearse and bring the new operas to life before
presenting them in a public showcase on Saturday evening at the 14th
Street Playhouse.
artistic planning and community engagement, is producing this year’s 24HOP,
which is one of the many activities across the country associated with National
Opera Week.
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| Cory Lippiello, Director of Artistic Planning & Community Engagement, The Atlanta Opera |
Just a couple months into
her tenure at The Atlanta Opera, this will be Cory’s first experience with 24HOP.
Here’s her take:
not for the faint of heart. And it isn’t for people who have issues with
editing. Or for people who need time to savor their words or let a new song
marinate in the subconscious. It is, however, a project for people who love
great music and great storytelling. It’s for artists who enjoy the kind of
creativity that comes from having restrictions instead of boundless possibilities.
It’s for performers who like to think on their feet. And it’s for audiences
that thrill to see something new, fresh and alive. This project is for people who
are adventurous, curious, intelligent, emotional creatures, intrigued by life
and looking for ways to understand our experience on this planet. Opera represents vast possibilities for
seeing our own experiences and emotions represented on stage in an incredibly
visceral way. Even when a character or situation seems wholly removed from our
time, opera is a living, breathing art form with something to say about the way
we live right now. What could be more immediate, more of-the-moment, than a
story created a mere 12 hours earlier?”
will be judged by Cory and a panel of judges, including Lyndsay Werking, producer
of OPERA America’s New Works Forum, and Jamila Robinson, digital entertainment
editor at the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
The audience, a key element to what Cory calls “the unique alchemy that
is the 24-Hour Opera Project®,” also will have the opportunity to vote for their
favorite.
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| 2012 24-Hour Opera Project Winner — Krispy Kremes & Butter Queens |
Why does The Atlanta Opera and the participating composers,
lyricists, stage directors, singers and accompanists subject themselves to the madness
of creating and performing a new opera in a mere 24 hours? Because opera can be just as crazy and cool
as anything we’d see on reality TV!
at the 14th Street Playhouse. Admission
is free and general admission. Check atlantaopera.org for more information and
reservations.
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