Two mini web-operas have been commissioned by the University’s Centre for Research in Opera and Music Theatre (CROMT) and will be showcased in October at Glyndebourne opera house in East Sussex.

The CROMT put out a call in April 2014 for proposals for a small web-based opera to be premiered at a conference on Opera and the Media of the Future.

The panel reviewed 17 proposals and awarded two entries a small commission to develop the web-operas.

The winning entries were: You Are Here by Jaakko Nousiainen (director) and Miika Hyytiäinen (composer) and RUR-Rossums Universal Replicants by Martin Reiser (electronic/interactive artist) and Andrew Hugill (composer).

Professor Nicholas Till, director of CROMT said: “The proposals that were awarded the commissions really engaged with the medium, rather than simply transposing a conventional form of opera onto the small screen.”

The productions will be only a few minutes long but are expected to demonstrate how audiences can interact with opera in an online form.

 Professor Till added: “Opera companies are just getting around to thinking about things like cinecasts, live web streaming and using websites for communicating with their audiences, but need to be thinking ahead to mobile media, and the different kinds of interfaces that these presuppose.”

The operas will be ready for testing on 10 October on the Sussex REFRAME website and made available to view from 23 October.

Opera and the Media of the Future is a partnership event between the CROMT and Glyndebourne Opera. Held on 24 and 25 October, the event aims to bring together academics and opera professionals to consider how new digital, web-based and mobile platforms might shape the future forms of opera.

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