Together with the Opera Management Course, a group of over 90 participants gathered this March at the Croatian National Theatre in Zagreb with co-productions and rentals on the agenda.
Setting the tone for a fully supported opera sector was the illustrious visit of Nina Obuljen Koržinek, Croatian Minister of Culture and Media, which encouraged an auspicious start to the forum.
Romana Matanovac Vuckovic’s keynote on intellectual property and copyright then provided a succinct prelude: moral or patrimonial rights, retained by creators and not transferrable, as opposed to economic rights, which often cause negotiation issues for production rentals, co-productions, and audio-visual distribution. Alongside a few case studies, our speaker offered practical advice to always consider these matters from the first contract, as they will prevail over national copyright law, and to be proactive in defining an industry standard.
During the following two days, the forum delved into various aspects of rights and creative producing, including presentations on 3D modelling with the Finnish National Opera and Volksoper Wien, and a panel with Opera Management Course Participants on professional training to become a producer.
Creative teams, revival fees, better practice for co-productions
Who has already hired an intimacy coordinator, a fight choreographer, a video designer, a lighting designer, a dramaturg, or a photographer in addition to the stage director and designers for sets and costumes? Most of the participants had already done so for one or the other and debated – under the guidance of Stephanie Wippel, production manager at Wiener Staatsoper, and stage director Marcos Darbyshire – how they would respond to certain creative needs or steer exuberant demands.
Together with Ville Matvejeff, artistic director at Savonlinna Opera Festival, the group explored different options for considering rights in case of a production revival in a contract. Almost every member present faced situations where the rights for creative teams were indeed renegotiated and could exchange about the ways they dealt with these matters.
This theme was continued the next day when a panel of all co-producers involved in the creation of Animal Farm, which premiered in 2023 at Dutch National Opera, were united for the first time. They demonstrated how they could ensure the most seamless processes when sending the production off to the next house and how they would readjust the performance schedule when onboarding a new co-producer. Then, all participants would break out into groups and update a checklist for co-productions, which is also available at Opera Europa’s document centre for download.
The forum was complemented by the most welcoming team at the Croatian National Theatre, where we were treated to two beautiful shows followed by sumptuous receptions – we’ll surely be back!
Susanna Werger
