Category Archives: New Opera & Performance

Trinity fireball, with lightning storm behind

Doctor Atomic’s blast zone

The latest production ofDoctor Atomic, the opera about the birth of the Nuclear Age by composer John Adams and director/librettist Peter Sellars, saw it coming ...
Violet Fire, an opera about Nikola Tesla

Tesla, recorded

Violet Fire, the opera about Nikola Tesla that I worked on as librettist with composer Jon Gibson, is finally getting a studio recording! It’s a ...
LSCD 2 crop

Leah Stein, Dance Alchemist

Leah Stein, a master of site-specific choreography, is known for creating outdoor dances that work a kind of alchemy on the places where they happen ...
Giulia Grisi as Norma, 1844

More women in opera?

With all the great women’s roles in opera, from Aida to Norma to Tosca, bringing up the issue of increasing women’s role in opera could ...
Remembering Sun Ra

Remembering Sun Ra

Space is the Place—the wild space-fantasy film starring Sun Ra, the legendary experimental jazz artist—came out in 1974. It follows Sun Ra and his Arkestra ...
Opera, Real and Surreal

Opera, Real and Surreal

“Opera permits us to go into a world that is not real.” This was spoken by Nicole Paiement, artistic director of Opera Parallèle, about halfway ...
How Tesla kidnapped my imagination

How Tesla kidnapped my imagination

There’s something about the inventor Nikola Tesla that has strongly attracted artists—much more than his arch-rival Edison, let's say. Tesla’s amazing life and grand visions ...
Midas in Milwaukee

Midas in Milwaukee

Judgment of Midas premiered in Milwaukee last week, and I’m still buzzing. It was an incredible experience. Kevin Stalheim, who leads Present Music, and Jill ...
Touching on Midas

Touching on Midas

It’s just a week now before the premiere of Judgment of Midas, the opera I’ve been working on with Kamran Ince. It’s happening in Milwaukee, ...