Mediaopera and Digital Opera: Musical Conceptualism and Modern Technologies

The purpose of the study is to determine a number of features of mediaopera as a form of musical conceptualism and an innovative genre, the genesis of which is associated with information technologies – digital opera. The study is based on a comprehensive approach that allows to identify the ideological and artistic foundations of mediaopera in Russia, the influence of conceptualism on it, and compare it with the actively developing digital opera. The genesis of mediaopera is connected with the formation of musical conceptualism, the center of which is the idea. Such concepts as cryptophonics, synthetism, performance are associated with the phenomenon of “mediaopera” in the Russian art space. Information technologies can be used to solve technical problems of creating a stage space. However, digital opera is becoming an independent art form, where the place of the viewer changes. Digital opera includes a number of innovations: from the use of performative elements to a digital quest (games on a personal device, smartphone, in a special application, etc.). In Russian research literature, the genres of media and digital opera are not always distinguished. However, despite some similarity between these types of musical and stage art, they differ significantly. This is due to their genesis, understanding of the main goal of the work and the use of artistic means. In conclusion, this underscores that trends in the development of modern art forms can be determined not only by the growth of digitalization tools themselves, but also by the change in the role of the viewer with the help of these tools, with an emphasis on pressing social issues.