Resurrection captures an unusual love story between Prince Nekhlyudov (Scott Hendricks) and the serving girl Maslova (Joyce DiDonato). Though divided by class, their fates become intertwined when the Prince sits on the jury that unjustly condemns the young woman to prison. Despite a merciless justice system that does not allow for second chances, an amazing story of courage and redemption …
Resurrection: Act 1 Scene 1, “Is this a dream?”
Resurrection captures an unusual love story between Prince Nekhlyudov (Scott Hendricks) and the serving girl Maslova (Joyce DiDonato). Though divided by class, their fates become intertwined when the Prince sits on the jury that unjustly condemns the young woman to prison. Despite a merciless justice system that does not allow for second chances, an amazing story of courage and redemption …
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Resurrection: Introduction and Act 1 Scene 1, “May Day”
"Machover has a gift for making music that is direct and complicated at the same time, for mixing popular and arcane elements. The vocal writing [of Resurrection] often dazzles with grand melismatic flourishes; jazz tumults through the brutish seduction scene; a gripping rhythmic pulse catapults through ever-changing meters." - Mark Swed, Los Angeles Times Commissioned and premiered in …
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Repertoire Remix (VIDEO)
Last month, composer Tod Machover joined an online audience together with pianist Tae Kim in an experience that fused Web-based interaction with a live piano performance. This demo centered on the Cauldron app built at the Media Lab for the "Festival City" project commissioned by the Edinburgh International Festival. The app is populated with the sounds of …
Global TV documentary on “A Toronto Symphony”
The Global TV documentary on A Toronto Symphony aired last week. It shows many pivotal behind-the-scenes moments in the creation of the piece. We hear Tod is working on a video compilation that will include more music. In the meantime, you can watch this documentary by clicking here. (Correction: We have replaced the incorrect link …
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Chamber Music America Keynote (VIDEO)
Tod Machover's keynote lecture from the annual Chamber Music America Conference (January 18, 2013) has just been posted online. Among other things, he discusses chamber music as an ideal context to imagine and create a subtle, intimate, human-scaled future for technology, in the arts and beyond.
Wanna help write a symphony? There’s an app for that
As the Opera of the Future team heads into the final stretch of its ambitious Toronto Symphony project, it has released a brand-new web application called Media Scores. The system enables anyone to mold sections of composer Tod Machover's music like pieces of sonic clay, save their work, and share them with other users, including Machover. …
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Dan Ellsey and Tod Machover featured in new film
Dan Ellsey, a young man with cerebral palsy whose life was transformed when he learned to compose music using Hyperscore, is the subject of a new documentary film, Music is My Voice. Hyperscore was developed by the Opera of the Future group at the M.I.T. Media Lab and featured in this TED Talk by Tod …
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Tod Machover at the Dallas Opera (Video)
Tod returns by popular demand to speak with opera lovers at the Dallas Opera on September 18. He's joined by Sara Heaton, who performed in "Death and the Powers" in the role of Miranda. Here they are in "Composing Conversations":
Update: A Toronto Symphony
In mid-June, Tod officially launched his project with the Toronto Symphony at the ideacity 2012 conference. On the project blog, Tod explains the ideas behind his "launch music": To officially launch our A Toronto Symphony collaboration, I created a series of chords last month to serve as a kind of “genetic” code for the project, and also …
Opera of the Future 