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CREDO is a multimedia musical theatre project produced by Fabrica Musica in co-production with the Staatstheater of Karlsruhe. The project, which focuses on the theme of ethnic and religious conflict, enjoys the support of the European Union in the context of Culture 2000.

CREDO is a global project: various languages and different disciplines complement each other in order to achieve an extraordinary new form of communication. Music, video, interactivity, editorial, design and new technologies are an integral part of the project and assume a dramatic role in its context.

Andrea Molino, director of the Fabrica Musica department, and Achim Thorwalk, director of the Karlsruhe Staatstheater are responsible for the artistic direction of the project. Andrea Molino, who composed the music and assumes the musical direction, is coordinator at Fabrica of the research of the young artists actively involved in the creative process. CREDO is constructed as a series of events, whose significance starts from the cultural aspects to then exceed these borders. Because, as Andrea Molino states, "the arts, communication and the world of entertainment have the right and the duty to soil their hands, to go back to dealing with society's fundamental themes - in this case, coexistence, the necessity for mature cohabitation between different cultures, the capacity to perceive the difference of other as enriching rather than dangerous".

The world premier of CREDO will take place at Karlsruhe, in Germany, on April 30 2004, with a repeat performance May 2 (as part of the "European Day of Culture", www.europaeische-kulturtage.de), with a direct satellite link with the cities of Jerusalem, Istanbul and Belfast. Using these links, a number of musicians will participate in the performance directly from their cities of provenience highlighting, as well as the advanced technology of the project, the tight connection with the basic theme, namely communication between different nations, cultures and religions.

Presentation to the public will take place in the grand hall of the Karlsruhe Staatstheater (www.staatstheater.karlsruhe.de). They are the co-producers of the project with the participation of the Badische Staatskapelle Karlsruhe (the theatre's symphony orchestra) and the theatrical direction of Achim Thorwald, who will also guide the creative participation of the German dramatist team. The scenic material, concept of Fabrica Design, will be built and mounted by Karlsruhe Staatstheater's workshop. The sound direction is devised at Fabrica and executed with the collaboration of the theatre's Audio Department.

For the realization of CREDO, Fabrica has offered bursaries to several young musicians, chosen from countries in which the central topics of the project, ethnic and religious conflict, are particularly relevant. The objective is not to group together different musical cultures in a sort of trendy world music group. The project focuses on and develops common elements (also personal, not only tied to the culture of origin) of the respective musical languages in search of a new and communal emotional vocabulary. In this context Fabrica, aware that the human voice is probably the musical "instrument" that most represents the affinity between language and culture, sought the collaboration of celebrated American vocalist David Moss and his Institute of Living Voice within the context of Antwerp's Theater Transparant (www.transparant.be).

From January to April 2004, the young international musicians selected developed -in an initial phase working with Andrea Molino- the instrumental sections of the project. They will have the support of technological tools that also offer linguistic cues which can be integrated in the creative process. Some of the musical scores created by bursary holders of Fabrica Musica with Andrea Molino have been developed for presentation to the public outside of the final event. They will still form an integral part of the project and will be executed in different contexts from that of live performance. The idea is to develop a form of communication which goes beyond the single event, and can make use of the potential of new communication technology (internet, Dvd, interactivity, etc), to reach a new and wider audience.

Andrea Molino and Achim Thorwald will edit the collection of the textual, photographic and video materials that will make up the multimedia "libretto" of CREDO. The "libretto" has been produced thanks to the work of some 50 international correspondents of COLORS Magazine (www.colorsmagazine.com). In addition to this material there is a selection of poetry and literary fragments that complete the multimedia mosaic on the platform of which the music will be composed. For example, through a technological system developed at Fabrica, it will be possible to play the video material musically: the video sequences will be projected live directly by the musicians through the use of Midi instruments (such as normal musical keyboards). The result is a tight, rhythmic correspondence, an indivisible linguistic unity between the visual elements and the musical composition.

The evening of the world premiere at Karlsruhe will be recorded live on audio and video, and form the main part of the Dvd that Fabrica will produce within the context of its own series of multimedia publications (Fabrica Media DVD Series). The publication will also document the production phases, and will include multimedia and interactive material, as well as interviews with the protagonists of the project. The Dvd release is projected for Winter 2004.

After Karlsruhe, Fabrica's CREDO project will inaugurate the 2005 edition of the Istanbul International Music Festival and also in the summer of 2005, will feature at the Queensland Music Festival in Brisbane, Australia.