The independent opera nouveau company Operation Opera has been producing and presenting new music drama and chamber opera since 2010, both with own events in Halmstad and on national and international tours. The group work experimentally with immersive and interactive meetings between artist and visitors in different kinds of new opera and musically driven experiences with the human voice as common denominator.
Often, Operation Opera’s performances are presented as location theatre, although some productions has also been adjusted for blackbox format. Operation Opera defines opera nouveau (or new opera, as a parallel to cirque nouveau and new circus) as opera with a fictional plot driven by autonomous live-singing in combination with contemporary technology in non-institutional milieus where the drama is placed among people rather than on podiums. For the ensemble, opera nouveau is closely related to new music theatre as well as to postopera, but it also connects to immersive and site-specific stage art.
The professional ensemble is supported by Region Halland and Halmstad Municipality, and the groups project has also been subsidised and sponsored by for instance Swedish Arts Council, Kulturbryggan, HFAB and Länsförsäkringar Halland.