Opera for online audience filmed on iPhone
An opera has been filmed on an iPhone for an online audience.
Eight Songs From Isolation has been written for streaming, rather than live performance.
It is billed as the first opera created for performers who are unable to meet in person.
The opera features texts on isolation, from Prayer by Carol Ann Duffy to How by Philip Larkin, selected by composers around the world.
Shot on an iPhone, it “weaves these eight songs into a unified viewing experience… through evolving representations of isolation”.
Conductor Oliver Zeffman, who created the project, said he hopes the opera “will resonate with audiences and bring people together around the world”.
He added: “Crises have often been the catalyst for artists to develop not only new work, but also new ways of working.”
He conducted the orchestra, Academy of St Martin in the Fields, in the studio.
The singers, including Sarah Connolly, Iestyn Davies, Sophie Bevan and two recent winners of the BBC Cardiff Singer Of The World Competition, were filmed in or near their homes for the 40-minute production.
The full opera, directed by Billy Boyd Cape, is available to watch on Apple Music.
