Only a week after the world premiere of Death and the Powers, the reviews are flooding in - and they loved it! Stephen Mudge of Musical America, one of the most important classical music publications in the US today, exalts Death and the Powers' "rather endearing baby robots," "fine tenor singing from Hal Cazalet," and …
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Two weeks after the world premiere of Death and the Powers, the reviews are starting to come in (see BUZZ)! This week, Jonathan Levi published his article, "Opera With Atmosphere of Brave New World," in the International Herald Tribune. It is a beautifully written piece that brings Levi's own perspective to Death and the Powers. …
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"Last night feels like it was a dream. A hazy, rainbow-colored dream." -Allegra Libonati, assistant director, the night after the gala After the premiere, the entire cast and crew of the opera joined the guests at a black tie gala at the Hotel de Paris, next door to the Monte Carlo Opera House. Futurum spared …
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"Bot 25, stand by." "Standing by." "Bot 25, GO." I am invisible in the left wing of the stage, watching mesmerized as the bots whir and click before me. I've sat through dress rehearsals and watched the robots run through this choreography hundreds of times, but tonight, things feel different. This is the first time …
I filmed this brief interview with a subset of the Miseries a few days ago on the back steps of the opera house, with the help of assistant director Allegra Libonati. The Miseries represent, well, the misery in the world - the pain, the torture, the anguish - as the victims of the famine and …
We actually interviewed Hal a few months ago during the June/July rehearsal period, but somehow that file got lost in the shuffle, so I re-filmed this interview with him in his dressing room before one of the rehearsals. Hal has previously starred in such productions as the World Premiere of Philip Glass’s Les Enfants Terrible, …
Last night was the final dress rehearsal before the show opens tomorrow night, and even I was anxious running around backstage with my camera. Though I've seen the show from start to finish several times start to finish (as proven by the fact that my dinner table and I sang through almost all of scene …
I was wandering around backstage at the Salle Garnier when I stumbled across the (very hot) wardrobe room, where David Woolard was finishing up the final touches on the suit jackets of the delegates from the United Nations, the United Way, and the Administration. David has designed costumes for such Broadway shows as West Side …
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Yesterday afternoon during rehearsal I spent a good two hours, armed with my camera, crouching in the front row of the Salle Garnier. Besides getting a few strange looks from conductor Gil Rose and almost getting tripped on more times than I can count, I managed to get a few good shots of the last …
This is the third of the three-part interview with Tod Machover discussing the history of Death and the Powers. Here, Tod talks about how the project evolved from the first draft of the libretto to today's full-scale production, from about 2004 to 2010. This is probably my favorite interview I've filmed to date - you …
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Opera of the Future 