The Unsung Torsos: An Opera in Thirteen Parts:: By Julia Christensen and Sarah Paul :: Performed by: Christensen, Paul, and WAM! (Women and Art Music Ensemble) :: Saturday, October 30, 2010 at 8:00 p.m. :: at the Museum of Contemporary Art, Cleveland, Ohio :: Reception at 7:00 p.m. :: Tickets: $5. Free for MOCA and Spaces members, and free for college students :: Call 216.421.8671 ext. 71 to reserve tickets, or click the link: http://www.mocacleveland.org/m

Music, video, and poetry converge in an original sonic narrative that celebrates the spirit of the innocent victims of the notorious 1930’s Cleveland “Torso Murders.” Experience the beauty and drama of this new, MOCA-commissioned multimedia opera written and performed by artists Julia Christensen and Sarah Paul, with contributions from the Women and Art Music Ensemble (WAM!) of Oberlin Conservatory. Continue reading

[Photo credit: M.I.T. Media Laboratory] When I die, what remains? What will I leave behind? What can I control? What can I perpetuate?

These are the eternal human questions facing Simon Powers, the protagonist of visionary composer Tod Machover’s new opera Death and the Powers, a full-evening work which premiered September 24, 2010 at l’Opéra de Monte-Carlo. In the opera, Powers, a rich, powerful businessman and inventor, wishes to perpetuate his existence beyond the decay of his physical being.

Reaching the end of his life, Powers uses his vast resources to devise a way to ‘download’ himself into his environment. This transformation turns every object in his surroundings — his books, furniture and walls — into a collective, living version of himself, called The System. Continue reading

Dag in de Branding presents Alvin Lucier in a one-off unique concert :: May 29, 2010; 3:00 p.m. :: at various locations in The Hague.

The Hague festival for new music, has joined forces in this sixteenth edition with TAG, the ultimate platform for contemporary audio-visual art in The Hague. The programme not only presents a Greek avant-garde opera by Iannis Xenakis, but also focuses on the trailblazing work of Alvin Lucier (USA), professor of music and composition. Since 2006 Dag in de Branding has captivated audiences time and again with its one-day journeys of discovery into the world of new music. Continue reading

Mendi + Keith Obadike: Four Electric Ghosts :: May 14-16, 2009; 8:00 pm :: The Kitchen, 512 West 19th Street, NYC + Streamed Live.

Performance duo Mendi + Keith Obadike premiere Four Electric Ghosts, a new multimedia opera that extends their experiments with layered narratives, online performance, and popular culture. Drawing from Amos Tutuola’s novel My Life in the Bush of Ghosts and the arcade game Pac-Man®, the work creates a composite world at the intersection of game culture, the folktale, and pop songs. Told from the perspective of ghosts, the narrative evolves through masquerade, movement, live music, and video interviews.

With text by Mendi, Keith on laptop, choreography and dancers from Angela’s Pulse Performance Projects, and new music created in collaboration with bassist/producer Melvin Gibbs and musician Guillermo E. Brown.

A House in Bali is a new dance-opera by composer Evan Ziporyn, with a libretto by Real Time Opera’s Paul Schick.

Featuring an all-star international cast of vocalists, dancers, and musicians, it traces the roots of the west’s century-long infatuation with Bali, through the true story of three westerners - composer Colin McPhee, anthropologist Margaret Mead, and artist Walter Spies - during their 1930s sojourn in Bali. This stunning, multi-media spectacle brings together the finest ensembles of east and west: a 15-piece Balinese gamelan directed by the dynamic Dewa Ketut Alit, the Bang on a Can All-Stars with guest violinist Todd Reynolds, Balinese choreography by the enchanting Kadek Dewi Aryani, wayang shadow puppets, and high-tech projections converge, pushing all boundaries of theatrical innovation. Continue reading

Computer Arts Society presents Peter Zinovieff: Music and Geology or Geology, Electronic Music and Opera? :: February 4, 2009; 7:00 pm :: London Knowledge Lab - Institute of Education, 23 - 29 Emerald St., London.

The talk is about three enterprises of excellence that I have been intimately involved in. I describe my making the first geological map of the Cuillins mountains in Skye (1958), the problems of my early computers (1960’s) in electronic music contrasted to some present day experiments (2008), and the preparation of my libretto for “The Mask of Orpheus” (1984) by Birtwistle. I show that these wildly different endeavours are not so dissimilar when it comes down to the nuts and bolts of their actual creation. Continue reading

Dia Art Foundation presents Rehearsal 2008 by Liliana Porter: From the press release: “Drawing from an extensive collection of figurines, knickknacks and toys … Porter presents a cast of toy chicks singing “La donna è mobile” (Woman is fickle) from Giuseppe Verdi’s 1851 opera Rigoletto. The chicks begin in chorus, but viewers can cut to “solos” by clicking any of the individual chicks, and then return to the chorus where they left off. Each chick’s audio track of the song is a unique interpretation, ranging from Tango to a panhellenic guitar version to a 1907 rendition by Enrico Caruso. The soundtrack is by Sylvia Meyer, with whom Porter has collaborated on her video projects. Continue reading

Smart Project Space presents: Bliep - An excursion into the experimental 8-Bit spectrum with BAHK (Korg Electribe SX); Gameboys a Gogo (Gameboy - FX - Synths); Peter Quistgard (Toys - Laptop - FX); Hakki Takki (Laptop - Midi - FX); VJ - Ronnie Rakete :: October 30, 2008; 9:00 pm :: Auditorium- Level 1.

The proliferation and user friendliness of gameboys and other game controllers has spawned a culture of music and video production quite separate from it’s intended use. Several distinct styles of the wide range of sounds encompassing noise and atmospherics will be explored and created on consoles, circuit-bent phones, toys and other devices. In collaboration with the Plattegrond Label. Continue reading

Station House Opera - From Soho to Rio: What’s Wrong with the World? :: 19 April - 4 May 2008 :: Soho Theatre Bar, 21 Dean Street, London W1D 3NE + Oi Futuro, Rio de Janeiro :: Live streaming and archived footage here. Schedule and tickets here.

From Soho to Rio: What’s wrong with the world? is a unique event performed in real time across two continents.
Combining live performance in Soho’s theatre bar with real time video links from both locations, What’s wrong with the world? takes the distance between the two cities and uses it to create a third, surprisingly intimate location where performers in London mingle, merge and collide with their counterparts in Rio. Continue reading

Divide Light - A New Opera by visual and performance artist Leslie Dill with music by composer Richard Marriott, and additional music by Tom Morgan:: August 13, 2008 :: Montalvo Arts Center, Saratoga, CA.

Commissioned and produced by Montalvo Arts Center, Lesley Dill redirects the classic form of opera using Emily Dickinson (1830-1886) to celebrate and investigate American Transcendentalism, a school of thought particularly prevalent in mid-19th century New England. Continue reading