Dr Samantha Fernando is composer of world's first opera in hyper-reality

Date03 June 2021

'Current, Rising' is a 15-minute hyper reality opera experience, combining virtual reality with a multisensory set, blending stagecraft with CG technology.

Current, Rising invites audiences to step into an immersive, atmospheric virtual world and experience a dream-like journey carried musically by a poem layered in song. It is a radical new way of seeing opera in which you – the audience – are at the centre of the performance.

Royal Holloway Composition Lecturer Samantha Fernando has collaborated with artists working with a range of new technologies to create this groundbreaking opera experience.

Video: How was the world's first hyper-reality opera created?

Current, Rising runs at The Royal Opera House until 10 June 2021.

Tickets and more information can be found here:

https://www.roh.org.uk/tickets-and.../current-rising-details

Trailer:

Creative team

Director: Netia Jones

Designer and CG Art Director: Joanna Scotcher

Composer: Samantha Fernando

Writer: Melanie Wilson

Sound designer: David Sheppard

Movement director: Anna Morrisey

Installation lighting designer: Zoe Spurr

CGI and software development: Figment Productions

Soprano: Anna Dennis

Ensemble: CHROMA

Conductor: Richard Baker

Repetiteur: Ashley Beauchamp

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