ABOUT THE PROJECT
Opera Anonymous represents the concept of gesamtkunstwerk - i.e. using very different elements, derived from other genres and arts. It is a project addressing the topic of interpersonal relationships in the Digital age and specific behaviors resulting from access to such a global communication platform. This opera raises the issue of so-called Online disinhibition effect - it is a phenomenon of turning off psychological mechanisms responsible for proper social behaviours. Another theme of Anonymous is the topic of online security, which in a times of permanently being in the virtual world is neglected and marginalized because there is a lack of education following technology. However, the most important goal of the work is to ask questions about the social responsibility of our online activities. Libretto is based on the script by Rafał Ryterski. It is based on texts from various internet sources, including - above all - real statements of Internet users.
Anonymous was performed in 2 versions - the original one, with 15 instruments, and the revised one, with 11 instruments and new visualizations, made entirely by Aleksandra Ołdak.
SYNOPSIS
Evening of September 22. Tyler Clementi leaves his dorm room, buys food from a college campus stand, and heads toward George Washington’s bridge . At 20:42, he posts on Facebook: Jumping off the gw bridge sorry.
This story begins, however, much earlier. On September 19, Tyler asks his roommate to leave their room for the evening. Ravi - because that's his roommate's name - is worried about his belongings, so he leaves the webcam on. He catches Clementi in an intimate situation with another man, and broadcasts the video to other people. The situation repeats on September 21, but this time Ravi is exposed, because Clementi notices a post on Twitter, in which his roommate encourage people to watch live broadcast from their room. Tyler is terrified, feels humiliated and deeply hurt. He decides to commit suicide.
Tyler's case, however, is not the backtory of the Anonymous. It is only the starting point from which the entire libretto was derived. Anonymous tells a story of four characters - Ania, Barbara, Maciej and Tomasz, who - despite cultural, environmental or social differences - exist in one virtual reality: the Internet. This medium is used by each character a bit differently: for some it is only a way to communicate, for others it is a space for expressing oneself, and for some the internet is an extension of the reality. In Anonymous the characters forget about the important fact - the data bandwidth, which does not fit all the non-verbal communication. Feelings are flat in the digital structures. The Anonymous’ characters feel unpunished and anonymous, they forget about the limits of good taste and savoir vivre. They are under the online disinhibition effect, the lack of restraint one feels when communicating online. This, in turn, leads to the inevitable confrontation of each character with his/her nature.
● ORIGINAL VERSION ●
FLUTE ● ANITA KANDER-MARCHEWKA ● CLARINETS ● MATEUSZ RAJKOWSKI ● BASSOON ● BERNARD ŁASECKI ● SAXOPHONES ● JAKUB MURAS ● TROMBONE ● NORBERT CELIAN ● ACCORDION ● PRZEMYSŁAW WOJCIECHOWSKI ● ELECTRIC GUITAR ● KONSTANTY SZEMRAJ ● PERCUSSION ● TAMARA KURKIEWICZ ● PIANO ● ANNA CHMIELIŃSKA ● VIOLIN ● AGATA KRYSTEK ● VIOLA 1. ● GILBERTO BAUTISTA ORTIZ ● VIOLA 2. ● RADOSŁAW JAROCKI ● CELLO ●OLGA CHWASZCZEWSKA ●DOUBLE BASS ●ANNA BATOR●SOUND DIRECTORS ● PRZEMYSŁAW KUNDA ● REMIGIUSZ CZECHOWICZ ● JĘDRZEJ LUCIŃSKI ● JAKUB NIEDŹWIEDŹ ● MACIEJ ZADROGA
CREDITS
MUSIC / LIBRETTO
VIDEO
SOPRANO
BASS
ACTRESS
ACTOR
CONDUCTOR
POSTER / BANERS
RAFAŁ RYTERSKI
ALEKSANDRA OŁDAK / JAKUB WRÓBLEWSKI
MONIKA ŁOPUSZYŃSKA
KAROL SKWARA
ALEKSANDRA SPYRA
PIOTR WĄTROBA
NADIM HUSNI
MAGDA BIERNAT
● REVISED VERSION ●
FLUTE ● ZUZANNA OSTROMĘCKA ● CLARINETS ● MATEUSZ RAJKOWSKI ● BASSOON ● BERNARD ŁASECKI ● SAXOPHONES ● JAKUB MURAS ● ACCORDION ● PRZEMYSŁAW WOJCIECHOWSKI ● ELECTRIC GUITAR ● KONSTANTY SZEMRAJ ● PERCUSSION ● TAMARA KURKIEWICZ ●PIANO ●ALEKSANDRA PŁACZEK ●VIOLIN ●JUDYTA KLUZA-SPORNIAK ● VIOLA ● GUSTAW KLUBCZEWSKI ● CELLO ●FILIP SPORNIAK ● SOUND DIRECTOR ● PRZEMYSŁAW KUNDA
AUDIO SNIPPETS
VIDEO SNIPPETS