The television soap opera learned from opera itself how to milk the drama of human relationships for all its cash value across decades' worth of daily TV episodes. Now it seems the world of opera is borrowing a thing or two from its small-screen namesake. Composer Lisa Bielawa's newest opera, Vireo: The Spiritual Biography of a Witch's Accuser, will come into the world in a series of performances of short segments and broadcast on television and online intermittently over two years, according to The New York Times. The libretto of Vireo, by playwright Erik Ehn, is based on Bielawa's research into historical perceptions of female hysteria. Production on the opera will take place under the auspices of Grand Central Art Center and KCETLink and will begin in February, when the first brief segment will be performed and recorded before a live audience in Santa Ana, Ca. The remaining 14 segments will be performed and recorded at venues throughout the U.S. and broadcast on southern California's KCET public television service and made available for viewing online. Read more:
- An Opera offered on the Installment Plan (NYT)
- Composer Lisa Bielawa Offers New Opera in Installments - Is This the Future of Opera? (Classicalite)
