Collaborative Opera

Course Description

Summary

What do you think of when you think of “opera”? A star diva? A solitary “genius” composer? People often think of opera as being the product of singular artists performed on a giant stage. But opera began as an experiment in making exciting music theater, and has had different sizes and shapes throughout its history. Like other forms of theater, opera is collaborative and requires the talents of many people for its creation and production. In this class, we will lean further into the community aspect of opera by making a new operatic piece through a community-driven process. Using group exercises including deep listening, improvisation, and guided writing, the class will develop the libretto and music for a new opera. We will build the piece around the talents of the people that take the class, whether creating electronic soundscapes, making theater from found objects, or anything in between. The class will culminate in a workshop performance of what we have created together. Along the way, we will discuss the history of opera and how it has changed in the current day, including a look at collaborative works by Bang on a Can and Experiments in Opera.