New Zealand Opera introduces Voices of Aotearoa 6:24, an exciting new development opportunity for writers, composers, instrumentalists and opera singers designed to help kick-start the creation of new opera works. The programme will see 24 participants form six teams of four, for two intensive and exploratory weekend workshops. The teams will be tasked with combining their unique skills and experiences to create a short narrative and song, to be performed at the end of the programme. Participants will be selected through an application process, which is open until 31 July.

While the singers must be operatically trained, the musicians, writers and composers may represent any culture or musical heritage. New Zealand Opera hopes to receive expressions of interest from creatives from all over New Zealand, at different stages in their development.

“In many ways Voices of Aotearoa 6:24 is like the start-up weekends that happen in the tech world,” says New Zealand Opera’s General Director Thomas de Mallet Burgess.

“We want to discover new voices for opera and challenge preconceptions about what the art form has to be. The starting point is bringing creative people together, some of whom may have had no previous experience with opera, for a couple of intensive exploratory weekends.”

The programme will involve two intensive weekend workshops at New Zealand Opera’s Auckland Opera Studio in October 2020 and January 2021, with the teams being brought together by experienced mentors (professionals in the opera sector) at the first workshop weekend. The second workshop in January will see them complete their song, with a performance to an invited audience on the final day of the workshop.

“This is a pilot for a programme we’d like to run again and again. We hope to build relationships with people interested in creating opera from within and outside the classical community,” de Mallet Burgess said.

“The ultimate outcome would be to be able to commission some of the teams to create short works that could then be staged by New Zealand Opera, but at the least we hope that we’ll be able to continue the relationship with some of these creatives.”

Flights, accommodation and per-diems will be provided to participants from outside of Auckland, to ensure that distance is not a factor in applications.

For more information and to submit an expression of interest, please visit nzopera.com/voices.