Can opera be reimagined in a sustainable way? Butterfly set out to prove it could. For the first time, a full-scale opera production was prepared entirely at a distance using LoLa, the ultra-low-latency system that runs on high-speed research networks. Three European theatres – Teatro Comunale Pavarotti-Freni in Modena (Italy), Opera Box in Helsinki (Finland) and Opera Baltycka in Gdańsk (Poland) – joined forces to stage a project that intertwined art, technology and environmental awareness.
The initiative, co-funded by the EU’s Creative Europe programme, combined new compositions, green scenography and audience engagement in sustainable mobility. From the outset, Butterfly aimed not just to tell stories about the environment, but to embody sustainability in the way opera is created and experienced.
A new creative ecosystem
The consortium included partners with diverse expertise: AESS for environmental sustainability, Heimspiel for digital scenography, Cumediae for cultural communication, and WeCity, which designed an app encouraging audiences to walk or cycle to the theatre. Every stage of production was re-thought: sets were built from recycled materials and designed to minimise transport; imagery was generated with AI; and rehearsals were conducted remotely with LoLa. Even the public became part of the experiment, receiving incentives for sustainable travel choices.
The results were measurable. Thanks to LoLa rehearsals alone, over eight tonnes of CO₂ emissions were avoided – the equivalent of hundreds of journeys by artists, technicians and production teams. The monitoring system, developed by Julie’s Bicycle, provided certified data that demonstrated the tangible environmental impact of these choices.
Youth at the centre
Butterfly also put younger generations in the spotlight. Secondary school students in each country contributed to the creative process, working with environmental experts and writing the stories that became opera librettos. After an international call, three young composers – Marco Attura (Italy), Paavo Korpijaakko (Finland) and Beniamin Baczewski (Poland) – transformed these texts into one-act operas inspired by the elements air, water and earth. Directed by Italian Matteo Mazzoni with scenography and costumes by Joanna Borkowska, the operas premiered between April and June 2025 in the partner theatres, to enthusiastic audiences and standing ovations.
LoLa: turning distance into presence
At the heart of Butterfly lies LoLa (Low Latency), developed by the Italian NREN, GARR, and the Tartini Conservatory in Trieste. This technology enables real-time artistic collaboration across borders, with no perceptible delay in sound or image. GARR, supported by LEPIDA – an Italian regional R&E network – worked alongside the Polish PCSS, and the Finnish Funet together with NORDUnet, as well as with GÉANT providing the European backbone.
As Claudio Allocchio, LoLa coordinator, recalls: “When I first heard that an entire staging would be rehearsed with LoLa, it seemed almost impossible. Hundreds of people had to work together as if they were in the same space. Yet within minutes of connecting, Modena, Gdańsk and Helsinki became one stage. In 15 years of existence, we never accomplished something so complex with LoLa”.
More than a performance
Butterfly shows that opera can be contemporary, inclusive and environmentally responsible. By uniting creativity, technology and sustainability, it leaves a cultural legacy that invites us to imagine the theatre as a living space – listening to the present, building the future.
Find out more at projectbutterfly.eu
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