We are excited to bring you the first interview in our Residency Interview series with Marco Attura, an Italian composer and pianist representing Teatro Comunale di Modena. Marco is one of the creative forces behind The Butterfly Project Opera, working alongside other talented artists to bring our sustainable opera production to life. During the Butterfly residency in Gdansk, we had the chance to sit down with Marco and discuss his first impressions of the student-written stories, his creative process, and his aspirations for the project. Join us as we dive into the intersection of music, storytelling, and sustainability.

What were your first impressions of the stories written by the students? How did they inspire your composition process? 
I noticed a lot of interest and enthusiasm from the kids and this is fundamental for the success of the project. Writing… is a gesture that seems ancient to the new generations, but instead allows us to know and preserve the memory of our past. We will listen to three stories different in style, form, content, but all were born from a great spirit of cooperation and driven by a great creative force. These stories paint three different atmospheres, captivate and immediately involve the viewer. Reading the text allowed me to immerse myself in their world and I could already hear the first musical notes in my mind. Each character will have its own theme that will merge into a single seamless musical flow.

What was it like to meet the rest of the creative team in Gdansk?
I discovered a wonderful city and people! During the days of residence in Gdansk there were reflections, discussions, exchanges of ideas, but also a lot of laughter which allowed us to become a family. Knowing how to work in a team is a great enrichment for each of us because we make our skills and creativity available while we always learn something new.

What aspects of the opera did you have the opportunity to work on during the residency?
Together with my librettist we defined the scenes, the voices of the characters and the general character of the music which must adapt perfectly to the time and place. The composer must be able to build emotions and know how to combine them perfectly so that the spectator is always immersed in the story. We began to imagine how music and words could be “a dress” tailor-made for each singer.

What are the next steps in the opera production?
In the next step in Modena, scheduled for July, I will present some musical excerpts. I will have a constant discussion with the librettist and director to verify the effectiveness of each scene. This will then be followed in October by a meeting with the guys who wrote the story, so I will have the opportunity to thank them personally and I will show them part of the creative process: how the music is made for a text and how we arrive at the final work. We would then have a new meeting with all the composers to present and discuss our works.

What do you hope the audience will take away from this opera both artistically and in terms of sustainability?
Just as we take care of our body, we must take care of the planet that hosts us. We are part of a life journey and together we can have the strength necessary to transform bad habits into healthy habits.

Work must always enrich our soul. Being artists we have the moral obligation to leave something to the public: when the spectator leaves the theatre he will have learned something different and important, he will take home a lesson and will continue to reflect on the useless daily waste, on the superficiality of some of our actions because we prefer a stupid and apparent convenience to responsible commitment.

I hope that audiences can take away the beauty of these three works and begin to look at the planet with new eyes.