November 2018
SONY Studio
Culver City, CA
Opera by John Cage
The L.A.-born master’s 1987 opera – his first – uses fragments of arias and duets from 64 European operas as its source material. Performers sing fragments of between one and sixteen measures, sometimes solo and sometimes simultaneously. They compete for attention with a pre-taped mix of 101 layered fragments from other operas. And the whole thing is dictated by chance – a computer program meant to stimulate the I Ching’s coin oracle. The end effect is a moving portrait not only of operatic history, but of the passage of time itself, and Sharon’s production, a collaboration with The Industry, gives it a further Hollywood twist.
LA Phil New Music Group
The Industry
Yuval Sharon, director
John Lacovelli, scenic designer
Marc Lowenstein, music advisor
Chris Kuhl, lighting designer
Jody Elff, sound designer
Alexander Gedeon, associate director
Singers: Babatunde Akinboboye, Maria Elena Altany, Justine Aronson, Sarah Beaty, Cedric Berry, David Castillo, Ashley Faatoalia, Suzanna Guzman, James Hayden, Sara Hershkowitz, Laurel Irene, Jon Keenan, Joanna Lyn-Jacobs, John Matthew Myers, James Onstad, Colin Ramsey, Renee Rapier, David Williams