Exposition

We Are You - An Investigation into intersections between Western Contemporary Opera and Online Fan Culture (2025)

Robin Fiedler
open exposition

About this exposition

Finding an audience we can relate to, or bringing our social circle into our audience is still a struggle for most younger composers. With the Western classical opera audiences ageing and the attempts to bring younger audiences into opera houses and concert halls, we need to ask ourselves as composers who we write for, and how we reach these people. My opera Serenoid which had its premiere in September 2024 at Tête-à-Tête Festival in London came out of a niche space of queer and disabled geek culture in creative online fandom communities that I have been part of since I was a teenager. These groups are hardly engaged with classical music as a genre, their creative focus is on visual art and writing, mostly around an established pop-culture franchise, in this case Star Trek. Often decried as cringy, the spaces in which they move have been melting pots for many people outside of the narrow representation of mainstream media in search for community and belonging since the arrival of the internet. The decision to take Serenoid as a story from an obscure niche space on the internet to the opera stage attempts to speak to its members and therefore open the doors my own community to become part of the “opera audience”. My research describes the process and outcomes of this experiment and hopes to prove that as classical composers we can speak to younger and diverse audiences by openly and authentically being part of the group we write for.
typeresearch exposition
keywordsfanfiction, opera, representation, community, diversity, audience
date01/03/2025
published22/05/2025
last modified22/05/2025
statuspublished
copyrightRobin Fiedler
licenseCC BY-NC-ND
urlhttps://www.researchcatalogue.net/view/3460386/3460387
doihttps://doi.org/10.22501/koncon.3460386
published inKC Research Portal
portal issue1. Master Research Projects


Copyrights

nameNow kiss meme
copyrightRobin Fiedler
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usagespicture, picture
nameVictoria Oruwari as Xaven
copyrightClaire Shovelton
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usagespicture
nameTaryn Surratt as Corrie
copyrightClaire Shovelton
licenseAll rights reserved
usagespicture
namePhilippe Eugusyene as Merton
copyrightClaire Shovelton
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usagespicture
nameXaven and Chorus
copyrightClaire Shovelton
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usagespicture
nameXaven fixes Corrie's Leg
copyrightClaire Shovelton
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usagespicture
nameCorrie with the children's toys
copyrightClaire Shovelton
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usagespicture
nameCorrie plays the violin
copyrightClaire Shovelton
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usagespicture
nameMerton & Ensemble
copyrightClaire Shovelton
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usagespicture
nameMerton's last attempt at disruption
copyrightClaire Shovelton
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usagespicture
nameLincoln Steampunk Festival 1
copyrightRobin Fiedler
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usagespicture
nameLincoln Steampunk Festival 2
copyrightRobin Fiedler
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usagespicture
nameLincoln Steampunk Festival 3
copyrightRobin Fiedler
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usagespicture
nameLincoln Steampunk Festival 4
copyrightRobin Fiedler
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usagespicture
nameLincoln Steampunk Festival 5
copyrightRobin Fiedler
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usagespicture
nameLincoln Steampunk Festival 6
copyrightRobin Fiedler
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usagespicture
nameGeordi LaForge
copyrightParamount
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usagespicture
nameData
copyrightParamount
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usagespicture
nameWide shot of the stage design at Cecil Sharp House, London
copyrightRobin Fiedler
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usagespicture
nameThe "Children's Chair"
copyrightRobin Fiedler
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usagespicture
nameCorrie's Place
copyrightRobin Fiedler
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usagespicture
nameSketch of the Stage by Edie Bailey
copyrightEdie Bailey
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usagespicture
nameTaryn, Victoria and Filipe in discussion with director Edie Bailey
copyrightTaryn, Victoria and Filipe in discussion with director Edie Bailey
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usagespicture
nameThe Cockpit Theatre with Victoria, Beth and Edie
copyrightRobin Fiedler
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usagespicture
nameSerenoid Illustration
copyrightWyatt Gaer
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usagespicture
nameLidia Hughes-Rodríguez working on Taryn Surratt
copyrightRobin Fiedler
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usagesvideo
nameCorrie and Xaven dancing
copyrightClaire Shovelton
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usagespicture
nameSerenoid Chorus: Miranda Ostler, Alto; Daisy Rushton, Tenor; Vicki Stilwell, Soprano; Vivek Haria, Bass
copyrightMiranda Ostler
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usagespicture
nameHarpsichord highpass
copyrightRobin Fiedler
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usagesaudio
nameProcessed Train, Scene III, Dream Sequence
copyrightRobin Fiedler
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usagesaudio
nameCorrie's Heartbeat
copyrightRobin Fiedler
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usagesaudio
nameHarpsichord lowpass
copyrightRobin Fiedler
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usagesaudio
nameFlutter of Wings
copyrightRobin Fiedler
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usagesaudio
nameXaven's Soundscape
copyrightRobin Fiedler
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usagesaudio
nameCorrie's Violin Melody
copyrightRobin Fiedler
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usagespicture
nameJourney Motif
copyrightRobin Fiedler
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usagespicture
nameTurning gears and voices
copyrightRobin Fiedler
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usagesaudio
nameClockwork
copyrightEpidemic Sound
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usagesaudio
nameWhispered phrases
copyrightRobin Fiedler
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usagesaudio

comments: 1 (last entry by Alison Isadora - 05/03/2025 at 13:17)