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 …
Continue reading "Meet the Team – Elly Jessop, Interaction Designer"
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 …
Continue reading "Meet the Artists – Patricia Risley (Evvy)"
We've got a lot of great new interviews coming up in the next few weeks, but for now this'll have to do - this fantastic image depicts Patricia Risley as Evvy, dramatically lit in her famous chandelier scene. You can hear her talk more about what it's like to perform this scene during her interview. …
Last weekend I headed over to Cutler Majestic to see the opera packing up, clearing out of the theater, and shipping the different elements off to Monaco. The changes were already pretty drastic. Before: And after: So now that the walls, chandelier, and all other miscellaneous parts have been shipped off, that's it for rehearsals …
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 …
Continue reading "I Dreamt a Dream! – Machover setting for a Blake poem"
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 …
Continue reading "Meet the Artists: Robert Pinsky, poet and librettist"
Patricia Risley talks about her character Evvy, Simon Powers' third wife, and what it is like to perform the part. She recalls auditioning for the part and the challenges of the music and role.
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 …
Continue reading "Rehearsal Photos – Monday, August 2, 2010"
Here are five drawings done by Rohan McDonald (age 13) during the June rehearsals of Tod Machover’s Death and the Powers at the MIT Media Lab. Rohan is about to enter the ninth grade at Cambridge Montessori School, and maintains interests in singing, acting, guitar-playing, and drawing, among others. He studies guitar with Jerry Bussiere, …
I'm currently sitting in the audience at Cutler Majestic Theater in Boston watching Jim and Joelle rehearse one of the pivotal scenes in the opera. "We evolved as meat to want sugar and fat/once that was good, but now that is fatal," croons Jim, writhing in anguish on a blanket on stage. I watch mesmerized …
Opera of the Future 