Here's a breathtaking video of Evvy's "Touch Me" aria from Scene 4 of Death and the Powers. Mezzo soprano Patricia Risley sings the role here during rehearsal at the Cutler Majestic Theater in Boston, MA, August 2010. She will perform the role of Evvy in the world premiere of Death and the Powers on September …
Meet the Artists – Joélle Harvey (Miranda)
Joélle Harvey shines in the demanding role of Miranda, the daughter of Simon Powers. Miranda is in her late teens, a young woman of intelligence and sensitivity, special and prescient. She is Antigone, Cordelia. Here she performs a duet with her stepmother Evvy, from Scene 1. Recorded during rehearsals at the Cutler Majestic Theater, Boston, …
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BBC News article – Is music going back to its roots?
Death and the Powers was recently featured in a BBC News article entitled Is music going back to its roots?, the last of a five-part series exploring the intersection of technology and culture. In the article, Tod Machover discusses the coalescence of modern music and technology, the challenges auto-tune has brought to the new generation of …
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Meet the Artists – Jim Maddalena (Simon Powers)
The role of Simon Powers is performed by the renowned baritone, James Maddalena. Simon is described as "a billionaire entrepreneur obsessed with his death. Mid-sixties. Mad, eccentric, charismatic, virile, successful. Has a devilish side to him, mischievous." Maddalena appears on stage in the first scene, at the end of which he vanishes into The System …
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Meet the Artists: Hal Cazalet (Nicholas)
Tenor Hal Cazalet will be performing in the role of Nicholas, Simon Powers' adopted son and protégé. Horribly injured as a child, Nicholas is rescued by Simon and rehabilitated as a half-human, half-machine. Nicholas builds The System. The role is demanding not only vocally but also in requiring an actor who can convey the cyborg …
Meet the Team – Elly Jessop, Interaction Designer
For Death and the Powers, I have primarily been working on the interactive systems, including the wearable sensors and vocal analysis system that we use to transform Jim Maddalena's live performance into the performance of the entire theatrical set. It's a terrific theatrical challenge: what do you do when your main performer is not actually …
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Meet the Artists – Patricia Risley (Evvy)
Opera News hails Patricia Risley for “her voice…luscious and agile, her characterization both boisterous and tender” as well as her beautiful “singing with ease and certainty.” Frequently sought after on national and international stages, Patricia Risley’s 2010-11 season includes her debut with New York City Opera as Dinah in Bernstein’s A Quiet Place. She also …
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I Dreamt a Dream! – Machover setting for a Blake poem
Tod Machover composed I Dreamt a Dream! in 2004 for the Young People's Chorus of New York City. When he received the commission to premiere a new work for the YPC's Transient Glory concert series, Tod turned to one of his favorite poets, William Blake, and selected a poem that he felt would speak to …
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Meet the Artists: Robert Pinsky, poet and librettist
This Poetry Foundation profile of Robert Pinsky captures the qualities that attracted Tod Machover to approach Robert about collaborating on an opera. Robert Pinsky is one of America’s foremost poet-critics. Often called the last of the “civic” or public poets, Pinsky’s criticism and verse reflect his concern for a contemporary poetic diction that nonetheless speaks …
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Rehearsal Photos – Monday, August 2, 2010
Everyone is sweating bullets from morning until late at night to pull a zillion pieces together for this Wednesday, when there will be a complete run-through of the opera in preparation for shipping everything to Monaco. The complexity of this opera is mind-boggling: The singers and orchestra have to learn an extremely challenging score. The …
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Opera of the Future 