The idea behind Project Electroclassic is breathtakingly simple, but cuts to the heart of the matter; it’s to go back to basics and asks what might be possible – by asking musicians and artists engaged in the field to try out something new in a risk-free environment. Project Electroclassic will bring together digital sonic artists, composers with a classical music training and WNO musicians to test drive and maybe even breach the boundaries. The selected artists will join musicians from WNO’s Orchestra in scheduled sessions in March through to April. They will be asked to develop creative pieces from audio samples, possibly a live performance, or a piece of sonic art, or a digital media installation; all the work will be broadcast on WNO///3. WNO///3 will also host a performance featuring visual artists and musicians as part of a series of events, including Electrostatic at the Colston Hall, Bristol, in May 2011.

But most important of all, the residency will focus on open debate of the complexity of music copyright and intellectual property. A short symposium (including live performance) is planned, which will illustrate the key findings of artist, composer and musician alike.

Interested in taking part? WNO///3 is now looking for three digital sonic artists or composers to join Project Electroclassic. The deadline for submissions is Monday 29 November, 2010. Further details from david.massey@wno.org.uk

Creative for Subscription Brochure

Produced by WNO Digital

The design for Cosi needed to reflect the designer and director’s early idea of a seaside setting for Mozart’s opera. They were looking at the documentary photographs of Martin Parr for reference, as well as making field trips to Barry Island and Penarth Pier. We used these visual sources to inspire our take on an out-of-season, traditional British seaside setting.

For Die Fledermaus, we were asked to create an image that suggested all the opulence and beauty of a turn-of-the-century costume ball (where part of the opera takes place). Period props and a very special Venetian mask set the scene. The textures were applied later to give the effect of a beautiful old painting.

Ravi Deepres Short

Produced and Directed by Ravi Deepres

Film maker Ravi Deepres has shot an evocative short film backstage for Welsh National Opera’s production of Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg. Discover a world behind the scenes, shot through the eyes of the dressers, make up artists, costume makers and production team who rarely step into the limelight.

WNO///3 launches MeisterMole on Twitter this summer, a one-off project tracing the progress of an opera company as it prepares to stage Wagner’s marathon work Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg.

MeisterMole is both quest and documentary, unfolding live on Twitter with the help of the ever-intrepid Mole – alias Robert Butler, theatre critic turned environmental blogger. This will be Wagner for beginners and blaggers alike; a digital cornucopia made up of Tweet debates, photographic stills, mobile phone footage, “interventions” from performers, prop makers, carpenters and milliners – oh, yes, and an original short film commissioned specially from Ravi Deepres, a regular collaborator with the award winning choreographer Wayne McGregor. From rehearsal room, to First Night; from the back of a tour truck to a very special performance at the Royal Albert Hall, this will be a four-month long odyssey for one very curious Mole.

In 2009, WNO hosted Opera 24 on Twitter, the first time a live opera performance was tracked through Tweets in its entirety, from early birds setting props backstage to the laundering of costumes post-show. Tweets were posted by Robert as he scuttled around the corridors and dressings rooms of Wales Millennium Centre in the guise of Opera Mole. This being Wales, the Tweets were in Welsh and English. We’re doing the same again with MeisterMole, wrth gwrs! Opera 24 had followers across 4 continents, including Allie Poppins in Michigan who Tweeted us:

“I just wanted to let you know how super cool this is. I’m sitting in Michigan reading about a Welsh opera. How amazing is that?”

Notepad is going to be at the very centre of what WNO///3 is all about, a place to track and discover the commissioning of original art inspired by the processes that make an opera.

We want to turn Notepad into a giant sketchbook; its entries will map the journey into making art happen – on a stage, in a studio, or somewhere a lot less familiar. Working with trends as they enter the public domain, we’ll work on a range of projects opening up the paths of inspiration to those amongst you curious for being in at the start of things.

Notepad is very new, but we wanted to tell you about it, just as we get underway on pulling together our idea of an ever-intriguing, ever-changing digital sketchbook. You can already see that most of the content on WNO///3 at the moment consists of past projects. But that’s because we’ve taken our time experimenting with what’s out there and also we’ve been having a think about what makes an opera work and how to present that in ways that haven’t yet been explored.

We’ve also been meeting up with artists and creatives in many different fields to progress some of our pipeline projects. Over the next few months, those projects will start appearing on Notepad. This is the catalyst for doing things differently on WNO///3 and we hope you’ll follow what we’re up too.