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 …
Continue reading "Meet the Artists – Jim Maddalena (Simon Powers)"
A few weeks ago I was fortunate enough to grab a few minutes of Karole's time during rehearsals and shoot this interview. When Karole Armitage isn't busy staging the characters in Death and the Powers, she serves as the artistic director for Armitage Gone! Dance, choreographing for numerous companies throughout Europe and America as well …
Continue reading "Interview with Karole Armitage, Choreographer"
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 …
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)"
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"
RSA series - Tod Machover in conversation with John Kennedy. In the future will everyone be an artist distributing their work over the Web? The tendency is for the quality to settle in the middle. If artists can engage fully with their audience to critique and guide work, the quality should get better. Is there …
Continue reading "Royal Society for the Arts -The Future of Music"
Death and the Powers composer Tod Machover talks about his musical vision in the Big Thinkers series on TechTV. Lots of fascinating footage... Part 1 Part 2 Part 3
Posted by June We thought you'd enjoy these photographs taken during the first set of rehearsals in June 2010. Can't wait to find out how these look on stage with lighting and imagery!!
The current issue of Nature features an interview with Tod about Death and the Powers. Because the venerable science journal lacks a music or opera review section (what an oversight!), the interview ended up under Book reviews. In the interview, Tod explains why he has been drawn time and again to creating operas: "With the …
Opera of the Future 