Music Theatre Now

Introduction

The broad range of new opera and music theatre works today reflects the increasing diversity in all areas of the performing arts. It appears that with every new work, artists redefine the form itself. Communication among performers and creators has always played an important role in the evolution of any art form. However despite globalization, this interaction among artists remains mainly localized in opera and music theatre. In comparison to the spoken theatre and dance this art form lags far behind in terms of the growing international exchange in the performing arts. Currently artists and presenters have only limited opportunities to meet one another and to learn about ideas outside their particular local or national "scene".

Institutionalized international conferences in the performing arts have, until now, not addressed this problem. The IETM (Informal European Theatre Meeting) for example, has shown little interest in music theatre. NEWOP, a meeting that takes place annually at a different location, serves to bring producers of new music theater together at an international level, however the meeting focuses on works produced in the host country. NEWOP is publicized through the Internet and is not formally linked to any organization. The regular participants come almost exclusively from western European countries and the United States. Little to no effort is made to advertise the meeting outside of the core member group. The meeting also did not take place in 2005. Thus the ITI-Meeting continues to be the only opportunity for an international meeting devoted to new music theatre.

The Music Theatre Committee of ITI was founded by the East German opera director Walter Felsenstein and the American musical producer Harold Prince. The committee created the International Music Theatre Workshop in 1983. Since then the meeting, which is organized by the German ITI center, has been held on a triennial basis.

The goal of the Music Theatre workshop - now: Music Theatre Now - is to promote the international exchange of ideas on contemporary music theatre. The productions selected by the jury are presented as video excerpts by the composers or directors of the production. In short talks, they describe the production. In past years, the interest in the workshop increased and the programme was expanded to include round table discussions and visits to opera and theatre in the city in which it was held.

The next edition of Music Theatre Now will be held in 2013.