One month to create an Opera, libretto and musical score, and perform it – starting from just an opening scene:

One morning, very early, a man
and a woman were standing, arm-in-arm, in London’s Covent Garden. The
man turned to the woman and he sang…

The Royal Opera House is making a daring crowdsourcing experiment: committing to a cooperative work with volunteers on Twitter who, building one upon each other's 140-characters contribution, will shape the content and build the story of the world's first Twitter-written Opera. The result will be performed from 4 to 6 September, 2009 at the Royal Opera House in London.

Suggestions are being collected and organized into a consistent story by a mysterious opera director, who will take care of delivering the finished work. The initiative is making fast and steady progress, with the second act being developed in these hours. Birds, obviously, are playing an important role in the story.

You can follow the development on the ROH blog, or directly on Twitter (#youropera) – and perhaps contribute to it, simply using the #youropera hashtag at the end of your line.