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).

The participating composers and lyricists will be given a 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 14^th Street Playhouse.

Cory Lippiello, the Atlanta Opera’s new director of 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.

 

 



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:

“This project is 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?”

At the concluding showcase, the final compositions and performances 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.

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!

Don’t miss the showcase -- Saturday, November 2 at 8 p.m. at the 14th Street Playhouse.  Admission is free and general admission.  Check atlantaopera.org for more information and reservations.

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