Black Fell: Combining gaming and opera for a compelling effect

University of Manchester's Senior Lecturer Frances Leviston is launching a new, online interactive digital opera in partnership with Martin Suckling, Head of Music at the University of York. Kielder Observatory in Northumberland at night Inspired by visits to the Kielder Observatory in Northumberland, Black Fell is a game-for-music, a story in song where a psychological landscape of memory, grief and scientific passion unfolds. The story explores the thoughts of a central female character, an astronomer, on a cloudy night. Without the use of her telescopes, she turns inwards, where a psychological landscape of memories and scientific passions unfolds. Funded by DC Labs, the co-creation of the research practice artefact brought musical development, led by Martin, together with Frances who shaped the poetry narrative. Hailed as a new approach to music, Black Fell is designed to bring a gaming-feel to opera storytelling. Martin Suckling, Head of Music at University of York said: " Black Fell was designed to take advantage of the possibilities that game environments and online delivery offer for new models of musical structure and audience interaction. A central feature is to allow the player-audience to move through musical space as if it is a physical environment: imagine being able to walk amidst the seats of an orchestra while it is performing - or rather, wander around multiple orchestras whose different music's blend but also work independently. In this way, the player's movements in the game environment controls the balance between different types of musical materials. By moving towards or away from different types of musical texture, the player is an active agent in composing the musical setting for Frances' poetry. How does Black Fell work?