LEO DOULTON

Mission Statement | Current Goals

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I founded Virtually Opera in order to explore cinematically-filmed opera. In an age of livecasts and music videos, I wanted to make work that adapted opera for the screen like the musicals I loved watching as a child.

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That mission has evolved - we were a bit early for filmed opera, but the pandemic has led to various big hitters finally embracing cinematically filmed opera in ways we can't compete with.

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What we've learnt, however, is what is truly special about live performance. Whether that's the experience of laughing together at operatic comedy that's as funny as anything you'd see on TV, or interactive immersive ritual-opera, we're always striving to find new ways to do things that only opera can; things which are both beautiful and fun.

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Since 2014, we've:

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- Created a 4-star (The Stage) interactive immersive opera about supernatural creatures - currently in the fundraising stages for performances in late 2022.

- made a new hiphop foxtrot sketch comedy opera, which was BBC Music Magazine Choice of the Month

- Presented the first ever relaxed performances of an opera at the Edinburgh Fringe.

- made films of classic arias for Series 1 and Series 2 

- reinvented the Liederabend as a way to explore aesthetic philosophy

- used tabletop roleplaying mechanics to write a vampire B-movie opera with Peter Davis 

I think we’re making progress - you can watch a selection of videos here, whether you want to see mournful clowns, vainglorious composers, or the anti-vampire resistance. Head over to our YouTube channel for more!