Technology

COR

Operas

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 ne...

Composer: Benton Roark

Librettists: Debi Wong, Benton Roark

Shelter

Content warning: birth

A nuclear family adrift in the atomic age. Since Prometheus stole fire from the gods, we have flirted with the dangerous beauty of science. In this cartoon fable, a father protects his family at any cost.

Thomas and Claire fall madly in love at a fundraising party. Thomas has decided to “find a wife, get a life,” whi...

Composer: Juliet Palmer

Librettist: Julie Salverson

R.U.R. A Torrent of Light

The fictional tech company R.U.R., founded by couple Helena and Dom, dominates the A.I. software market and powers the now-ubiquitous androids that serve their human owners.

As Dom becomes more focused on growing R.U.R’s profits, Helena’s creative research leads to an unexpected technological breakthrough that pits the couples’ visions square...

Composer: Nicole Lizée

Librettist: Nicolas Billon

Airline Icarus

A worker ruminates on the terrifying power of flight as he loads bags. Three passengers board and discover they’re sitting beside each other. During the pre-departure safety demonstration, a flight attendant longs for an escape from her mundane life and job. The three passengers think of their own isolation and lo...

Composer: Brian Current

Librettist: Anton Piatigorsky

COR

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Shelter – Scene 1: Love & Science (duet)

Thomas and Claire meet at a party and fall in love.

Shelter – Scene 5: The Pilot (duet)

The pilot watches Hope from afar. They meet and become lovers.

Shelter – Scene 4: Hope Grows Up, “Dusk of Tears” (duet)

Thomas and Lise sing of feeling the burning of two suns on their faces.

Shelter – Scene 4: Hope Grows Up, “Waiting” (duet)

Thomas has brought Lise to become Hope's tutor, but Hope has grown up and wants to leave the house. Lise warns her not to give her love away to just anyone.

Shelter – Scene 4: Hope Grows Up, “This is Our House” (aria)

Hope grows up quickly, climbing out of her crib as a woman of twenty-one. She sings to herself, wanting to leave the house.

Shelter – Scene 6: Trinity (aria)

Hope introduces the pilot to her family. He leaves, and Hope argues with her parents about going with him.