Edinburgh Napier University

  As the theatres and opera houses of Europe closed their doors due to the Corona Virus pandemic, this project was created to connect performers and audience.

We designed a call centre that connected audience members by phone to a behind the scenes world of cancelled opera productions. The call centre agents, all people involved directly in the operas; there were stage directors, composers, administrators, casting agents, choreographers and musicians and performers. They took on the role of telephone ushers for the callers guiding them to a selection of recorded material. The ushers were open to conversation welcoming callers to the world of their production whether the caller was new to opera or an aficionado.

The event was not streamed, it was only accessible by calling in. Though no longer live, calls were recoded and are now available for you to dip into and explore.

THIS EVENING’S PERFORMANCE was presented by Bergen National Opera and part of the Bergen International Festival and The Holland Festival 2020.

We invite you to listen to recorded conversations and to read about the project further.