Free Will by Opera by You
Opera By You is the world’s first online community opera project
Savonlinna Opera Festival launched Opera By You project in May 2010. In the project anyone can contribute to the creation of an opera. Any member of the online community can help to write the libretto, compose the music and design the sets and costumes – from beginning to end. The Savonlinna Opera Festival will be placing world-class soloists, a chorus of 80, a symphony orchestra and its entire production machinery at the community’s disposal. The online community opera will be premiered at the Savonlinna Opera Festival in summer 2012.
Online community
Opera By You online community is open for everyone. The community communicates in English to allow people from all over the world to understand each other’s. Most of the members are Finnish, but USA, Italy, Spain and Peru are well presented.
The community has a crucial part in creating the opera. Project proceeds gradually and each part of it includes communal brainstorming via the website.
Operatives
Working alongside with the online community are operatives, a group of opera professionals: the Savonlinna Opera Festival’s Head of Productions Jukka Pohjolainen, composer Markus Fagerudd, opera director Jere Erkkilä, librettist Iida Hämeen-Anttila, producer Linda Winqvist, visualist Samuli Laine and project manager Päivi Salmi. Operatives have special guest members when making decisions on different areas of the project.
Operatives make the final decisions regarding the project with the help of the online community.
Internet platform
The opera is operated in this site and Star Wreck Studio’s Wreckamovie web platform. Star Wreck Studio is a film studio that is specialized in blending the internet and the film industry together. Tampere (Finland) based company is known for the world’s first feature-length collaborative internet film Star Wreck: In the Pirkinning, that was published in 2005.
Partners
The main partners for the project are Helsingin Sanomat and Nokia. The idea is being developed and worked on in partnership with hasan & partners advertising agency, Drum Communications and online collaborative film company Wreckamovie.
Current news / November 2011
Italian Graziano Gallo’s Free Will has been chosen as the theme of the opera. The three geniuses are Mozart, Oscar Wilde and Joan of Arc. The fourth lead is Lucifer. Opera will take place in year 2012. Libretto is now finished (June 2011). Five scenes out of seven have now finished. Stage sets are now finalized and now it is time to vote for the costumes.
The next phases in the work of the community are:
- finalizing the composing
- starting the marketing planning (December 2012)
- starting the stage direction planning (January 2012)
Wreckamovie’s Opera By You community has over 400 members and the Facebook group about 600 likers of opera from all over the world.
Chosen synopsis in short
God has had enough of all the misery that people are suffering from and calls a meeting with the angels. They decide to send a couple of dead genius back to Earth to make things better. They are supposed to make a huge difference in science and art and create world peace. The three geniouses are Joan of Arc, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and Oscar Wilde. Their enemy is Lucifer.
Free Will has seven scenes.
1st scene GABRIEL, the CEA of angels has called an emergency session because God’s project to save the world called Free Will is failing. Angels GAZARDIEL and JOPHIEL try to come up with ideas, but neither one of them manages to convince Gabriel. Finally a young angel called BASTIANEL has the courage to open her mouth and she has an idea that Gabriel likes: sending back to Earth human geniouses of former times. Together the angels come up with three names to save the world: Mozart to improve it with music, Oscar Wilde with his words and Joan of Arc to be the charismatic leader. They will be taken from the limbo and sent back.
2nd scene LUCIFER finds out that Heaven is trying to save the world again when one of her helpers inform her that three souls are missing from the limbo. She orders the GIANTS, played by the choir to go and find these souls. LUCIFER claims that she will defeat Heaven for good.
3rd scene GENIOUSES ARE BACK
Bastianel gives the geniouses their last instructions and leaves them on their own. The geniouses find out their new jobs: Mozart will be a singer songwriter, Wilde the new Secretary General of UN and Joan of Arc the leader of the world’s largest bank group. Mozart and Wilde are hesitant at first but Joan of Arc convinces them to trust God.
4th scene LUCIFER’S MEETING WITH WORLD LEADERS
This is the current writing task. Lucifer meets three leaders: URAKABARAMEEL, AZAZEL and ZAVEBE to plot against the geniouses. She tells them that Wilde is going to declare new human rights, Joan of Arc is going to pay the debts of the developing countries and Mozart is going to have a charity tour for the benefit of all the poor mothers and their children. They agree to kill Oscar Wilde, attack Arc’s bank by hacking and launch a blackmailing campaign against Mozart.
5th scene WILDE’S SPEECH
Oscar Wilde is going to deliver a speech reading a new Universal chart of the rights of man. There is an assasin hiding in the crowd ready to shoot Wilde but this attempt fails.
6th scene TRIUMPH AND CHAOS
News coming from all over the world testify that God’s plan worked fine. The geniouses are celebrating their success. Suddenly bad news break in: The repayment of the debts of the poor countries has made the whole financial market collapse. Millions of new unemployed men and women light up violent riots along the streets of the capitals in Europe and US. Oscar Wilde is killed by a fanatic. Or is he? This is still under discussion.
7th scene THE END
Mozart and Joan of Arc (and Oscar Wilde) have escaped with the help of the angels and are now waiting for new instructions from God on on an island in the middle
of the Pacific Ocean.The atmosphere and message of the last scene is still open for discussion.
Information
Anyone can join in making an opera at operabyyou.wreckamovie.com and here in this site www.operafestival.fi/operabyyou.iw3
Press material at Savonlinna Opera Festival media releases and image bank.
Further information
Päivi Salmi, project manager, Savonlinna Opera Festival
+358 40 774 0919
paivi.salmi@operafestival.fi