MEDIATHEK

The Social Opera House is the first online and virtual based opera house in the world. Its mission is to merge theatre with new information technologies. The Banker, the first opera series ever realized, launches its research project in the field of opera theatre and will lead the way for many other future projects. 

// In a Nutshell: 

Walter J. Conrad (bass/baritone) is a powerful banker who made economic history in Italy, and not only that: his figure, an “éminence grise” known to most, was able to influence through the years international politics, thanks to his natural talent as “intermediary”. Disgraced, Conrad secretly decides for a monastic life. After a long period of anonymity, on the night of the Holy Saturday, he prepares his “resurrection” and his return on the international scene. To do this, he tries to involve a young ambitious journalist (Jacob Gilbert, tenor) revealing to know the solution to the unresolved mysteries that marked Italian history in the last fifty years. The Banker is the first web opera series ever made. Since the shooting didn’t took place in a theatre but on location, the language is the one of the opera movie, differing however for its serial form. The narration is divided into episodes of maximum 10 minutes each and, thus, already thought-out for Web use. Even though originally made for a different medium than theatre, The Banker is however an opera thought to be reassembled for a complete display and to be staged in a normal theatre. The decision to make a serial opera comes from the vivid necessity of bringing this ancient but still actual language closer to the general public, and to demonstrate that it can still be popular and affordable to everyone. This is why, following this philosophy, the libretto leaves the classical meter for quick and sharp dialogues, embracing a simple and contemporary language. 

// After the production of The Banker – Pilot Episode, the audience was invited to our first experimental streaming by creating an event advertised through social networks such as Facebook, Twitter and others, or through Broadcast Lists on chat services such as Whatsup or even via dedicated Newsletters. The streaming was made available directly on the site of the theater www.socialoperahouse.org, starting at 9pm GMT+2 until 12pm of the same evening (Sunday, June 28, 2015).