5 Things We Love About INO - #3 Contemporary Opera
Monday, 30 January, 2023
What do you think of when you hear the word “opera”? For me, the word “spectacle” comes to mind, because it’s such an incredible mix of music (both orchestral and singing), acting, dancing, set design and costumes – it's an all-encompassing art-form.
Opera to me is also timeless and it’s quite frankly astonishing that a piece of music composed in the 1800s can still resonate with an audience in 2023! But something about music can transcend time, as can the common themes of love, loss, jealousy and deception.
There can sometimes be some misconceptions around what opera is or is not, and at INO we want to show you how interesting, varied and exciting opera can be!
Myth: all opera productions are traditional...
Fact: opera can take many forms and at INO, we like to present a broad mix of productions, both traditional and modern. Set design and costumes are key in letting an audience know the setting of a particular production.
For example, our La Cenerentola featured grand costumes and a sensational fairy tale set. In a complete contrast, our current production of Don Pasquale (originally written in 1842) is wittily set in a plastic surgery where the old Don Pasquale gets some work done in order to attract a younger wife. This cheeky production features a box of Viagra being wheeled on-stage, chicken fillets and three very dramatic make-overs!
Myth: All opera has the same story, “boy meets girl, somebody’s in disguise, everybody dies”...
Fact: we commission brand-new operas on a regular basis which allows composers to write about contemporary issues. During the pandemic, we commissioned 20 mini-operas for film in a series called 20 Shots of Opera. Our composers addressed a broad array of contemporary themes, for example, pandemic-related operas, online dating, mental health and climate change.
In addition, we have commissioned work for our INO Opera Studio composers, including Evangelia Regaki’s This Hostel Life in 2019, adapting a collection of short stories by Melatu Uche Okorie and Amanda Feery’s A Thing I Cannot Name in 2021, which dealt with three different women exploring three different desires with a libretto written by Megan Nolan.
And we don’t always do it alone. In association with Landmark Productions, we commissioned The First Child, the final instalment of Donnacha Dennehy and Enda Walsh’s trio of operas. The First Child went on a national tour last year and is set in modern day, made clear with the characters’ Tinder profiles projected onto the backdrop. A thriller about the effects of childhood bullying, the setting is eminently relatable to a modern audience.
Myth: Opera can only take place in big opera houses...
Fact: Our main focus in INO is to provide opera for all, everywhere! We tour around the country, bringing productions to venues large and small.
We are also constantly exploring new ways to present opera. For example, we have partnered with OperaVision to provide free streaming of our live productions, which means that anyone anywhere can tune in if they so wish. We have embraced opera directly for film through our 20 Shots of Opera series. We have adapted to outdoor productions by projecting filmed operas onto an inflatable screen.
But most excitingly, we are embracing ground-breaking and innovative technology… Ever heard of virtual reality opera or street art opera? Check out our innovation blogpost to learn all about the novel ways INO is looking at presenting operas…
Written by Audrey Keogan (Development Assistant)
