Irish National Opera – through its artistic director Fergus Sheil – embarked on an ambitious and audacious project in 2020 to fill the void of not being able to perform publicly – commissioning twenty new operas, short works of 6 to 8 minutes each. No particular brief was given, the only proviso was that they weren’t all about Covid-19.
Writers & librettists produced 20 pieces, then in collaboration with INO, series director Hugh O’Conor, lighting designer Paul Keogan, set designer Sarah Bacon and an amazing host of others totalling 160, we staged and shot 18 of the 20 operas in 10 days in The Gaiety in Dublin in November 2020.
I filmed 15 of the 20, with additional filming by Hugh O’Conor and Blat Garcia. I brought them into the cutting room immediately after the shoot and collaborated through Dropbox. frame.io & vimeo with Hugh and the creative team to finish and deliver for launch on Dec 17th. An incredible achievement by all considering the restrictions under which the entire production operated.
All operas can be viewed here on INO’s micro site. Below is one of my favourites – Libris Solar – a really incredible piece of music from Jennifer Walshe performed by the amazing Claudia Boyle, directed by Tom Creed.