Very interesting Opera.

A lot of technical words and images in song and multimedia projection.

COMPOSED BY JON GIBSON

CONCEPT AND LIBRETTO BY MIRIAM SEIDEL

DIRECTED BY TERRY O'REILLY

OCT 18, 20 & 21 AT 7:30PM

BAM HOWARD GILMAN OPERA HOUSE

The revelatory multimedia opera Violet Fire centers on the scientist/inventor Nikola Tesla, a visionary thinker ranking with Edison and Einstein in his impact on the modern world. Responsible for breakthroughs in electricity (alternating current, hydroelectric power), wireless broadcasting (radio transmission), robotics (remote control), and much more, Tesla was prone to waking hallucinations; he literally envisioned his way toward more than 700 patents and countless ideas, both practical and utterly fantastic. Or so they seemed in the early 20th century. Many of his inventions were precursors to the wi-fi world we now take for granted.

The evocative 90-minute score by minimalist composer Jon Gibson, a senior member of the Philip Glass Ensemble, features six principal singers, full chorus, and chamber orchestra. Miriam Seidel's libretto presents Tesla as a prescient, transcendent figure—a man utterly ahead of his time and in close touch with his imagination. A white pigeon he befriended in Bryant Park takes on the role of a great love. She sings, telling him of nature's mysteries. Together they encounter events and people from his life, including Mark Twain and the writer Margaret Storm, who was unwavering in her belief that Tesla was born on Venus.

In an impressionistic staging by Mabou Mines co-artistic director Terry O'Reilly, this gripping story of scientific triumphs and pitfalls is an emotional journey that concludes where it began: with Tesla as a precocious child, enthralled by the wonders of electricity.

APX. RUNNING TIME: 85MIN, NO INTERMISSION

SCENIC AND COSTUME DESIGN BY BORIS ČAKŠIRAN

LIGHTING DESIGN BY MARY LOUISE GEIGER

MEDIA DESIGN BY SARAH DRURY AND JEN SIMMONS

CHOREOGRAPHY BY NINA WINTHROP

CONDUCTED BY ANA ZORANA BRAJOVIĆ

Violet Fire was first produced by The National Theater of Belgrade and the BELEF Festival and officially sponsored by the Nikola Tesla Museum. Supported by the Trust for Mutual Understanding and Tesla 150th Jubilee Committee, Republic of Serbia.

from BAM page:

http://www.bam.org/events/07VIOL/07VIOL.aspx