Connecting creativity in the Coronavirus Crisis, #OperaHarmony looks to assemble teams from across the globe for all new homemade micro-operitas to be shared online. With ongoing support, composers will be paired with librettists to build the pieces on the themes of ‘distance’ or ‘community’ before being matched with directors and singers to record and turn their micro- opera into an online reality to share with the world.
This entirely innovative way of creating networks, at a distance, between all those invested in creating opera comes from the current Stage Director of the International Opera Awards, Ella Marchment. Ella has worked for world-renowned companies and conservatoires as a director and teacher including Guildhall School of Music and Drama, The Julliard School, Dutch National Opera, Wexford Festival Opera and The Royal College of Music. Additionally she has a track record of creating opportunities for artists and new commission and, through her organisation, Helios Collective, has engaged over 1,500 artists in making opera, and commissioned numerous new operas and plays many of which have been endorsed and hosted by English National Opera.
Ella Marchment, organiser, comments, The other day I was thinking about how we could still make art together even through these difficult circumstances, how we can use this forced separation to bring us closer. I am committed to giving as many people opportunities as possible – regardless of experience - to create art. My interest in commissioning originated from a desire to give artists a step onto the career ladder but, in this situation where we now have no apparent stage and are all in the same boat, the idea is to create networks between all those invested in creating opera and plant the seed for new professional relationships that have the potential to grow further once we are out of this situation. #OperaHarmony began with a Facebook post and I have been overwhelmed by the response of artists from around the world. I now understand its potential to unite, connect and stimulate creativity across the entire opera industry.
In a time when so many of the world's opera companies have shut and we are confined to the boundaries of our own four walls, it has become imperative to search for means in which creativity can still flourish. #OperaHarmony is an opportunity to make something beautiful together out of an incredibly dark time.
