Guest Blog: Director Ella Marchment On New Digital Project #OperaHarmony

I am writing this from OperaHarmony HQ - more commonly known as my temporary bedroom in York - while I continue to self-isolate, in absolute solitude, in accordance with the UK Government's guidelines for anyone who has returned from mainland Europe in the past 14 days.

If you work in the arts, you will already know my story, or be familiar with one very similar to it. Just 22 days ago, I was directing the final technical rehearsals of Mathilde Wantenaar's new opera - Een lied voor de Maan - at Dutch National Opera when the producer announced that the Dutch Government had just restricted performances to a maximum of 100 people and that we should all go home immediately.

I've experienced all the trials and tribulations of show business over the past decade, but nothing had prepared me for the carpet being pulled out from underneath my feet so swiftly like that. Five weeks of meticulous rehearsal. And the result? Production cancelled due to force majeure.

Contemporary opera has been my calling card since I started working in opera, even though my interests as a director are multi-faceted and now seem to revolve around staging as much Italian opera as possible. My mother's family emigrated from British Guyana to the UK in 1968, and opera was not an inherent cultural calling. This feeling of not being a typical opera consumer inspired me to want to show others that, as a potent art form, opera has the capacity to unite people, to foster communities, and to embrace new technologies and new ideas in its creation.

With the theatres suddenly closed, I returned to my rented flat in the Netherlands and felt an overwhelming sense of isolation. As I read through Facebook and Instagram stories that were almost exactly the same as mine, I realised that there were a lot of creative people out there whose work had suddenly been stamped on by the heavy boot of Covid-19.

I've always tried to look for the best in every situation, and the same desire to bring people together that initially inspired me to found Helios Collective eight years ago struck me: instead of feeling frustrated about what was happening, why not use the time to explore new ways to create? People could both channel and explore their creativity, as well as ward off the loneliness of missing their usual work.

I wrote a post on Facebook, asking if anyone would be interested in creating new short operas online, of approximately five to ten minutes each, just for fun. I thought a handful of people might reply, if that. But, in under 12 hours, more than 200 opera-makers worldwide - spanning nine different nationalities - had responded, covering all the creative disciplines involved in making opera. And then I realised that I was on to something. OperaHarmony was born: making great new music online in harmony with others and not letting Covid-19 bring the world of opera to a complete halt.

My role in this is as a matchmaker. Because I have directed the last three International Opera Awards ceremonies and worked as a freelance director throughout the UK, Russia, USA, Europe, and Scandinavia, my network is varied to say the least. I have been matching people up who might never have otherwise met, bringing them together to create short scenes as composers and librettists, which will then be performed by musicians and singers around the world, and directed and staged by a range of creatives. Like life, not all of these relationships will work, but that's part of the joy of the experience.

There are currently 13 micro-operas in development, with teams from Turkey, China, UK, USA, Denmark, and Germany...and there could still be more to come: I am currently looking for more writers and librettists to work with the composers who have already signed up to OperaHarmony. I am also matching each new opera with a director, and the teams will then choose OperaHarmony singers and instrumentalists to work with around the world, and under the leadership of the director work out how they would like to record their scene.

There is no specific release date for any of the operas, as they have not been designed to be filler projects, but high-quality works developed through new working processes and relationships. The greatest success will be if some of these new relationships endure beyond the boundaries of OperaHarmony, in the hope that in the years to come we might enjoy a full opera crafted by the seeds sown by one or more of these teams.

But, for now, we are all dealing with works-in-progress, and I hope that you will follow this journey closely to see how the relationships evolve and, in time, to enjoy the music and drama that they create. And if you want to be involved, the time is now.

Find out more at www.facebook.com/Opera-Harmony-100185041630610 or email operaharmony2020@gmail.com

Photo credit: Nick Rutter