When you think of opera, one imagines a beautifully finished product, usually disconnected from the labor involved in its creation. But what would happen if the labor to produce opera was just as foregrounded as the result of that labor? This question has been taken up in many forms over the last six to seven decades.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n From John Cage\u2019s experiments, “<\/span>Europeras<\/span><\/a>“, Stockhausen\u2019s spiritual Wagernianism “<\/span>Licht<\/span><\/a>“ series, and John Adam\u2019s meta-narrative imaginings, “<\/span>The Death of Klinghoffer<\/span><\/a>“ and “<\/span>Nixon In China<\/span><\/a>“. To the neo-grand opera marvels of Phillip Glass, “<\/span>Akhnaten<\/span><\/a>“, and what could be described as the post-opera operas of virtual reality, “<\/span>Current Rising<\/span><\/a>“, opera has never been just about what is on the stage. For both informed and new listeners alike, what happens on the stage is only a part of the experience of opera, and if we can understand as viewers what happens off the stage, then what happens on the stage is that much more powerful. Hence, the idea of foregrounding the process in art (i.e., <\/span>process art<\/span><\/a><\/em>) is a powerful reminder of the very real human work behind creativity. Opera doesn\u2019t just poof into existence but is the result of many hours of work by as many, if not more, people in various positions.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n One such process-art project making waves in contemporary opera is the EU-funded initiative, “<\/span>The Traction Project,<\/span><\/a>“\u00a0begun just four years ago in 2020 after having received funding from the \u201cHorizon 2020 Research and Innovation Programme.\u201d Although only going for two years, this has produced three operas of great importance. Via a large-scale collaboration between business, philanthropy, and performance, a community of thinkers came together in dedication towards reconceptualizing opera in the European space. Many of the team members of “<\/span>The Traction Project”,<\/span> including community art researcher <\/span>Fran\u00e7ois Matarasso<\/span><\/a> author of “<\/span>The Restless Art”<\/span>, (2019) and a host of theaters and companies, from <\/span>Gran Teatre del Liceu<\/span> to <\/span>Virtual Reality Ireland,<\/span>\u00a0represented a fresh face of opera which didn\u2019t shy away from technology but integrates opera with its unavoidably human face to bring in a new generation of audience members and participants in the operatic experience which undermines old hierarchies of performance.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n The three operas at the heart of “<\/span>The Trevor Project”<\/span> (“<\/span>La Gata Perduda<\/span><\/a>“ in Barcelona, “<\/span>O Tempo<\/span><\/a>“ in Portugal, and “<\/span>Out of The Ordinary<\/span><\/a>“ in Ireland) were all experiments in the creation of opera from a community-first perspective, and while the project is finished, the infrastructure left behind lives on. One may ask, \u201cWhy is community participation a vital part of opera\u2019s future?\u201d The importance lies in seeing one\u2019s experiences represented not only on the operatic stage but through opera itself, understanding what opera does by becoming one with opera rather than continuing the binary of the composer, performer, and listener. As <\/span>they write<\/span><\/a>, \u201cThrough co-creation\u2014the collaboration of professional and non-professional artists\u2014opera discovers new ideas, new stories, new performers and ultimately new advocates.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n Ultimately, what opera becomes is up to us but what opera <\/span>is<\/span><\/i> may also be up to us and that we have the power to change at any time by seeing the world as the opera stage, our neighbor as a performer, and our life as the libretto.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\nWatch<\/h2>\n