The birth, preparation, and actual performance of Three Tales, a video opera signed by Steve Reich, the American minimalist composer, and Beryl Korot, the video-artist, took place between 1997 and 2002, under the aegis of the Frankfurt Modern Ensemble. The opera had been commissioned by Klaus Peter Kehr, musical director of the Wiener Festwochen in Vienna. The project was thus based on a vast collaborative network resulting in an coproduction agreement for funding. This agreement brought together a number of leading European festivals for contemporary creation and two American festivals. The author of the paper describes his research protocol, by way of a certain number of “search engines”. He also refers to his own personal involved in the project.