TAP:EX Augmented Opera

CAST: Vanessa Oude-Reimerink, Lauren Segal, Lyndsay Promane | PHOTO CREDIT: Dahlia Katz

CAST: Lauren Segal | PHOTO CREDIT: Dahlia Katz

CAST: Debi Wong, Lauren Segal | PHOTO CREDIT: Dahlia Katz

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OVERVIEW

Title: TAP:EX Augmented Opera
Composer: Benton Roark
Librettists: Debi Wong, Benton Roark
Commissioned By:

Tapestry Opera

Language: English
Producer:

Tapestry Opera and re:Naissance Opera

Run Time:

Roles:

Role	Voice Type	Range ?	Character Description
Eurydice A	high	B3-Bb5	Guest attending product launch
Eurydice B	middle-high	A3-A5	Guest attending product launch
Eurydice C	middle-high	F3-A5	Guest attending product launch, actively following the development of ELYSIUM
Calliope	middle-high	pre-recorded	Computerized voice
CEO	silent-spoken	spoken	CEO of Elysium

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Orchestration: Piano, Electronic Track

Behind the Scenes

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SYNOPSIS

This fifth installment of the Tapestry Explorations (TAP:EX) series offers a take on a Silicon Valley product launch, where audiences are the first to learn about Elysium, a new cloud-based technology that reimagines the afterlife as a perfect curation of our best memories. This fictional product draws attention to the modern world developing new technologies that multiply our options and experiences, but asks us to examine what is at stake when we choose to adopt them.

The TAP:EX series is a site for interrogating structures, questioning assumptions, and breaking boundaries. Each version brings a new aesthetic to the ecosystem and adds a vital facet to the evolving, ongoing, living answer to the question: what is opera?

With excerpts from "Eurydice" by H.D. and "Die Sonette an Orpheus" by Rainer Maria Rilke (trans. Wong and Roark)

MUSIC DESCRIPTION

In this experimental take on a new technologies-themed opera, three 'Eurydices' sing the emotions a woman feels as she participates in an A.I. experiment. Through a mixture of solos, unison singing, and more delicate layering, the three voices sing with and to one another: two in a middle-high range representing the 'real' Eurydice and a desolate version of herself, and the third, set in a higher range, singing as a saccharinely-happy version. Underneath, a piano and synthesizer create a blend of acoustic and electronic textures, while recordings of spoken dialogue provide additional dramatic layers to the score.

SCORES FOR PURCHASE

Piano Vocal Scores:

TAP:EX Augmented Opera – Piano Vocal Score

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Libretto:

TAP:EX Augmented Opera – Libretto

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Arias & Excerpts:

TAP:EX Augmented Opera - Section 1: " Product Launch"

Eurydice volunteers to test new A.I. technology that promises to capture your most vivid memories and curate your perfect virtual afterlife. Lab techs hand out eye masks to the audience.

Character	Voice Type	Range ?
CEO of Elysium	silent-spoken
Calliope	middle-high	recording
Eurydice C	middle-high
6 Lab Techs	middle-high	ensemble

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TAP:EX Augmented Opera - Sections 2 and 3: "Descent Into Memory - Garden of the Subconscious"

Calliope and the Muses lead Eurydice C into her subconscious, to the memory of her first love.

Character	Voice Type	Range ?
Lab techs	middle-high	ensemble
Eurydice C	middle-high	D3-Eb4
Chorus of Muses (Eurydice A & B)	high	D3-Eb4
Calliope	middle-high	recording

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TAP:EX Augmented Opera - Section 4: "Inner Sanctum"

In memory, Eurydice C's painter lover pushes her to allow him to paint her and make love to her, even though she is reluctant.

Character	Voice Type	Range ?
Orpheus	silent-spoken	silent
Eurydice B	middle-high	D4-G5
Eurydice A	high	D4-A5
Eurydice C	middle-high	A3-G5

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TAP:EX Augmented Opera - Section 5: "Fragments"

Eurydice C remembers different versions of her lover in an Arioso, Bourrée, and Passacaglia. She questions what might have been, before Calliope calls her back to the present.

Character	Voice Type	Range ?
Whispered Voices	silent-spoken	spoken
Calliope	middle-high	recording
Eurydice A	high	C4-Bb5
Eurydice B	middle-high	A#3-F#5
Eurydice C	middle-high	F3-F5

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TAP:EX Augmented Opera - Section 6: "Elysium"

Eurydice C is shown her Elysium with Orpheus in the garden - she is not sure she wants him there, but it fades before she can decide. The CEO brings her back to reality and closes the presentation.

Character	Voice Type	Range ?
Eurydice C	middle-high
Calliope	middle-high	recording
CEO	silent-spoken	spoken
Chorus of Muses	high	ensemble

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PREMIERE PRODUCTION INFORMATION

Premiere Production:

November 20-23, 2019 at Sidewalk Labs, Toronto ON

Producers:

Tapestry Opera and re:Naissance Opera

Cast:

Role	Name
Eurydice A	Lauren Segal
Eurydice B	Lyndsay Promane
Eurydice C	Vanessa Oude-Reimerink
Caliope	Debi Wong

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Premiere Production Team:

Role	Name
Co-Director	Michael Hidetoshi Mori
Co-Director	Debi Wong
Producer	Jaime Martino
Music Director	Michael Shannon
Set, Lighting, & Costume Designer	Jacqueline Costa
Sound Designer	Guillermo Saubaste

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CREATION

DEVELOPMENT

TAP:EX, or Tapestry Explorations, is a program created by General and Artistic Director Michael Mori in 2014. Designed to create space for creators to push the musical boundaries of opera, it was conceived as a complement to the Composer-Librettist Laboratory in furthering Tapestry's mandate for creation and experimentation. TAP:EX Augmented Opera is the fifth installment in the series.

MEDIA

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VIDEOS

Behind the Scenes

Trailer

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