Neil Gaiman

English National Opera announces Mini Operas, a world-wide, online search for composers, writers and film makers that will seek out emerging opera talent of the future from across the world. Three competitions to find future stars of all the components of creating an opera will be launched online allowing everyone to submit entries for one or more categories.

Live from 26 March 2012, this groundbreaking and innovative worldwide search for new talent will seek to create the future of opera. The hunt for exciting visionaries will take place entirely online in conjunction with Mini Operas partners: Vimeo, Soundcloud, BFI, British Council, Classic FM, Sound and Music and The London Film School.  

The competition will run in three rounds dedicated to each discipline with renowned talent judging the entries. Artists with strong connections to ENO; Will Self, Terry Gilliam and Nico Muhly, will judge submissions for each relevant category. One participant will provide inspiration for the next as each round will be activated by ten final entries from the previous stage.  

Existing and budding writers will be invited to create a script based on three example story lines, provided by Will Self, AL Kennedy and Neil Gaiman. Later in the year, the ten scriptwriter finalists will be put forward and composers will have the opportunity to compose an original score to these unique stories. From here, ten composer finalists will be picked by composer Nico Muhly and ENO Music Director Edward Gardner. The competition will then open up for film makers to construct their vision for the complete Mini Opera. The film section will be judged by film legend and director of ENO’s The Damnation of Faust, Terry Gilliam.

Terry Gilliam said, ‘Opera is really, really hard to do well. I know. I want people to find it out for themselves. I’ll be judging, and I want to find future stars who can work with this ridiculous, stupefying, insane, wonderful artform. Good on ENO for trying to find anyone mad enough to have a go.’

The finale to the contest will take place at the BFI, in autumn 2012. Terry Gilliam will pick one winner from each category. Selected films, scripts and soundtracks will be showcased at the event, and one person from each category will be chosen to be mentored by leaders in their field: BAFTA Award winning composer, writer and director Jeremy Sams, who has worked extensively in theatre both in the UK and New York and whose credits include Chitty The Musical, Amour, and The Water Babies;  Composer Nico Muhly, whose opera Two Boys was premiered at ENO last year; and Leo Warner, whose productions include Waves and War Horse at the National Theatre and who has also produced work for the National Theatre of Scotland and the Metropolitan Opera.

www.minioperas.org