“Nothing happens; Melisande dies.”

April 11, 2011 by Amanda Ameer

In T minus 20 minutes, this year’s #OperaPlot begins again. The contest, started by blogger The Omniscient Mussel (yes, we know that sounds like a stripper name but she’s not), is in its third year. Of #OperaPlot’s inception, Miss Mussel told The Guardian:

I started this contest a month ago on a whim. I was writing programme
notes for the RNCM and tweeted that I was having trouble with word
creep… one of those mundane details Twitter disparagers claim not to
be interested in. @pattyoboe, an oboist blogger from California
suggested I should tweet the notes. That seemed impractical but then I
thought, what about opera? Tweets are the perfect antidote to
convoluted plot summaries…so I launched the contest with a single
Tweet. I only had about 50 followers at the time but word got out and
by the time the contest ended three days later, the whole world (ok, the
whole opera world) knew about it.

This year’s esteemed judge is a familiar face ’round these parts: LIfe A Pitch‘s Favorite Alberich, Eric Owens. He’ll be reading your Tweets in his free time while singing with the Chicago Symphony here and in Chicago. Maybe Riccardo Muti can lend a hand. Here’s Eric introducing the contest:

So, Twitches, submit your entries! Opera houses, submit your prizes!

Also, there is some talk of Eric doing a dramatic reading (/singing?) of the winners, so stand by for that.

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