Crowdsourcing opera Opera By You awards active community members
Members that have been most active in creating Free Will community opera have been awarded with travel packages to the Savonlinna Opera Festival and world premiere of Free Will on 21st July 2012. Now all Opera By You community members have an opportunity to reach for Jorma Ollila Innovation Award.
During the crowdsourcing project, which has been going on almost two years, over 400 members from around the world have taken part in creating the community opera and thousands of people are following the progress. Now five lucky members have won an all-inclusive travel package to the premiere of Free Will in Savonlinna this summer.
The winners of the travel packages were drawn among the 20 most active members of the online community. Lucky ones are: Javier Armendariz from Spain, Enrico de Zottis from Italy, Finnish Heli Nevakare and Nancy Somerville and Sabrina Pena Young from the United States of America.
However, the work of the community will be going on until the premiere, when three Jorma Ollila Innovation Awards are granted based on active participation. The award is an acknowledgement on special activeness and innovative ideas. Winners will be announced at an Opera By You seminar, held on the day of the premiere on 21st July.
– The project is not over yet. The direction, the most exciting phase of the project, is starting in two months. We want to encourage all the current and new members to follow the direction process online, and take actively part in the interaction. Everyone is a potential winner of Jorma Ollila Innovation Award; activeness and ideas count, says Päivi Salmi, Project Manager of Opera By You at the Savonlinna Opera Festival.
Music completed, details still to be polished
Music composition of Free Will is ready, and piano score can be downloaded from https://www.dropbox.com/home/Free Will. However, Opera By You community still has some tasks left before the premiere.
At the Wreckamovie platform stage details, like background voices and positions of characters, are still in progress. The planning of the market square scene can be followed here: http://www.wreckamovie.com/tasks/show/2496.
Libretto of the choir can be discussed here: http://www.wreckamovie.com/tasks/show/2512.
In addition, the deadline of the marketing task has been prolonged so that everyone can get his or her ideas public. Proposals for the poster and slogan can be done here: http://www.wreckamovie.com/tasks/show/2375.
A live online channel, where anyone can follow and take part in direction process of the opera in Olavinlinna, opens in June. Via the channel people will be able to give comments to the director in real-time.
Free Will opera and Opera By You in brief
God has had enough of all the misery that people are suffering from and calls a meeting with the angels. They decide to send a couple of dead genius back to Earth to make things better. They are supposed to make a huge difference in science and art and create world peace.
The three geniuses returning on Earth are Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Oscar Wilde and Jeanne d’Arc. Two angels and a female devil (Lucifer) with their assistants will back them up.
Lead roles: Mozart (famous pop star), Oscar Wilde (Secretary-General of UN), Jeanne d’Arc (World bank leader), Lucifer, God (choir), Giants (choir)
Supporting roles: angels and devil’s assistants
Savonlinna Opera Festival launched Opera By You project in May 2010. In the project anyone can contribute to the creation of an opera. Any member of the online community can help to write the libretto, compose the music and design the sets and costumes – from beginning to end. Hundreds of people from all around the world have taken part in creating the opera and thousands of people follow it online. Working alongside with the online community are operatives, a group of opera professionals. The community opera Free Will will be premiered at the Savonlinna Opera Festival on 21st of July 2012.
Information
Anyone can join in making an opera at www.wreckamovie.com/operabyyou.
The voting, press material, images & trailers: www.operabyyou.com
Inquiries:
Päivi Salmi, Project Manager, the Savonlinna Opera Festival
+358 40 774 0919
paivi.salmi@operafestival.fi
The Savonlinna Opera Festival in brief
The Savonlinna Opera Festival is the Finnish cultural event best known internationally and a leading Finnish tourist attraction. It records an annual total audience of around 60,000, a good 10 per cent from abroad. The Savonlinna Opera Festival is a modern pioneer in the world of opera, presenting not only the classics but also new and innovative productions. A visit to the Savonlinna Opera Festival is an all-round experience made up of first-class opera performances and concerts, the unique atmosphere of a medieval castle and the beautiful town of Savonlinna in summer, set amid lakes and forests. The Festival gets about 70% of its funding from ticket revenue, the rest in the form of grants from the Ministry of Education and the town of Savonlinna, and partnership agreements.
