Twitter opera contest back for second round*
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The Twitter Opera Synopsis Contest is officially back for a second round.
In case you haven’t been following, opera fans embarked on a contest last month to see who could tweet the cleverest synopsis of an opera in 140 characters or less. The contest was sponsored by the Omniscient Mussel blog, which is run by an opera buff in Canada. (The blog name refers to a mythical character in Richard Strauss’ ‘Die Ägyptische Helena.’)
The winners of the first round were announced in March. The second round kicks off Monday and the official rules have been posted online. People may submit up to 10 plot synopses through May 3.
So get tweeting, folks. To warm up, you can check out the submissions for the last contest. And in the spirit of the game, Culture Monster offers our own example from the incest-themed ‘Die Walküre,’ which runs through Saturday at L.A. Opera:
#operaplot -- She’s my sister... no, she’s my lover... sister... lover... She’s my sister AND my lover!
Below, we’ve listed some of our favorites from last month’s contest:
‘La Boheme’: @hchan - A bunch of bohemians. Is that a cold hand? Cough, cough. Forsake love. Cough, cough. Regain love. Cough, cough. Dead.
‘Madame Butterfly’: @ogiovetti - Naive geisha carries a tune, carries a torch, carries a child. Can’t carry on. Hari-kiris herself.
The Ring Cycle: Emilie S - Girls lose gold, incest, sword, Ride, fire, son is hero, fates, betrayal, stabbing, more fire, throw ring in the water, place burns anyway
Update: How could we have forgotten to mention that L.A.’s very own opera sensation Danielle de Niese will be judging the contest? There will also be real prizes this time in the form of ticket packages offered by a handful of opera companies, including the Washington National Opera, Glimmerglass Opera and the Lyric Opera San Diego. Now are you motivated? Thanks to the sharp-eyed Culture Monster reader for reminding us.
-- David Ng
Monika Rittershaus
