Tod is just back from a whirlwind trip to London where he brainstormed with director Braham Murray, his collaborator on Resurrection and Skellig, about new opera and theater concepts, and launched a new project with theater group Punchdrunk (more soon on these soon). But first he swung by the Royal Opera House at Covent Garden …
Death and the Powers recording session
This just in from Tod Machover's Facebook: "Finished the DEATH AND THE POWERS recording today with two fabulous sessions. All the singers, the BMOP players, conductor Gil Rose, and the whole recording and tech team did an amazing job. I am SO happy that the music is in the can; now we enter the editing …
Chicago: Photo Gallery
Check out these photos sent from Tod's iPhone!
Opening Weekend in Boston
What an incredible weekend! Death and the Powers opened on Friday night at the Cutler Majestic Theater in the epicenter of Boston's theater district. The air was electric with anticipation. The audience was studded with an only-in-Boston constellation of artists, intellectuals and übergeeks. Spotted in the crowd were M.I.T. President Susan Hockfield, Harvard Provost Steven …
Designing Operabots
Alex McDowell, production designer for Death and the Powers, shared these notes with us detailing his experience working on the production design of Death and the Powers. We thought they were worth sharing. Thanks Alex! DEATH & THE POWERS - designing operabots Alex McDowell, March 9 2011 Death and the Powers was my first experience …
Karole Armitage interview and dancing robots
In this delightful interview, celebrated choreographer Karole Armitage discloses how she thought about choreographing the movements for each character in Death and the Powers, including the operabots. You'll gain an appreciation for how she makes each personality vivid and convincing through movement. We include new footage of the Prelude and Nicholas (Hal Cazalet) cavorting with …
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Boston Globe spotlights Operabots
Here's a charming article in the Boston Globe that focuses on the creative and technological efforts that went into the "operabots" in Death and the Powers. The article reveals how director Diane Paulus and choreographer Karole Armitage latched on to some early technical quirks and glitches and used them to imbue the operabots with dramatic …
Opening Night
"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 …
Interview with the Miseries
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 …
Rehearsal Photos
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 …
Opera of the Future 