November 2017
Walt Disney Concert Hall and streets of Los Angeles, USA
Concept, Direction, Text adaptation by Yuval Sharon
Music by Annie Gosfield
Music Direction by Christopher Rountree
Production Design by Calder Greenwood
Presented by the Los Angeles Philharmonic
Co-produced by The Industry and NOW Art
War of the Worlds is a new opera that eliminates the boundary between concert hall and the streets of Los Angeles. Three defunct air raid sirens located in downtown Los Angeles were re-purposed into public speakers to broadcast a live performance at Walt Disney Concert Hall, based on the infamous 1938 radio drama created by Orson Welles. It was performed simultaneously at Walt Disney Concert Hall and broadcast through the sirens onto the streets of Los Angeles, while performers stationed at the sirens sent their live report of the alien invasion back to the concert hall.