The Death and the Powers team is excited about bringing the show to Chicago’s beautiful Harris Theater, to kick off the Chicago Opera Theater’s season. The operabots want to visit the top of the Willis Tower – don’t know if they’ll be allowed on the elevators, though. Aww, maybe next time…
We’re getting some lovely advance notices in the Chicago press!
Chicago Tribune – Cue the robots – opera for the digital era arrives at COT
“The COT chief [Brian Dickie] caught the work’s premiere in Monte Carlo and later in Boston and found both performances “very thrilling.”…Its main character is Simon Powers, an aging businessman-inventor who decides to dodge his mortality by downloading the essence of his being into a computerized reality called The System. His books, walls and chandelier become a network other characters, including his wife, daughter and assistant, are drawn into. If all this sounds a bit forbidding, Machover’s often lyrical, singable music, flowing in and out of the electronic soundscape, is not.”
Chicago Classical Review – Machover’s “robot opera” to kick off Chicago Opera Theater’s season “The production surrounds the cast of seven singers with screens lit with bright columns of shifting colors and a tensile, web-like musical chandelier that becomes an almost-human figure. There are luminous, triangle-headed robots, 143 speakers scattered about the theater and dozens of computers to control the lavish sound and light show.”
Shows are April 2, 6, 8 and 10. Order tickets here
During the week, Tod Machover will be speaking on a variety of panels, including this one: “Transforming Music: From Guitar Hero to Robotic Opera and Beyond” at 7PM Tuesday March 29 at Northwestern University. Details here.
Opera of the Future 