Surf for supranos

THE WORLD'Sfirst Internet opera has just been composed and played out by German musical adventurer Eberhard Schoener.

Schoener is in the final stages of composing and performing Virtopera, which utilises the medium of the Internet in its execution and as its subject. The plot involves fellow musical innovator Dieter Meier (one half of veteran Swiss techno pioneers Yello) playing the part of a sage who encounters a three-dimensional computer simulation named Cold Genius.

The first act was performed in Mantua, Italy, in October 2000, consisting of a group of musicians and singers linked by web-cams to musicians in four other cities around the world.

The entire opera moved to Brazil, and concluded in Cologne just days ago. At each stage, as well as using a live web-cast to show the performance on the Internet, Schoener invited his audience to email suggestions for plot development.

Schoener increased the interaction aspect of his project by inviting his audience to add verses to a 'renga', an ancient Chinese chain poem that was performed during the final act. Schoener encouraged participation by offering a prize of a weekend at his Bavarian country house for the audience member judged to have made the most valuable contribution.

Plans are under way for the complete work to be released as an album and DVD later this year. Perhaps this will be the first of many such interactive projects.