Opera of the Future, under the leadership of composer Tod Machover, director of the Opera of the Future group at the M.I.T. Media Laboratory, explores concepts and techniques to help advance the future of musical composition, performance, learning, and expression. The mission of this blog and website are to take you inside Opera of the Future’s creative process of bringing new works of music into the world. Please subscribe to this blog to receive email alerts about our latest postings, event updates and activities.
It looks like a busy year ahead, with a new opera commission, on-going discussions with various organizations for the next city symphony projects, and a few nutty, out-of-the-box projects TBD. Recent major projects include:
Schoenberg in Hollywood, an opera commissioned by the Boston Lyric Opera, was premiered in November of 2018 in Boston. It will next be presented by the Vienna Volksoper in its 2021-2022 season.
Gammified, commissioned by the Kronos Quartet, is based on MIT neuroscience research showing that audio and visual signals in the 40 Hz range can stimulate the brain in diverse ways, reverse brain amyloid (in mice), and may be a potential therapy for Alzheimer disease. The Kronos Quartet premiered the work at the MIT Media Lab in April 2019. Watch archived live-streamed video and discussion (starts at 6:35). Listen to an audio excerpt here.
Philadelphia Voices, commissioned by the Philadelphia Orchestra, was premiered in April 2018 at Philadelphia’s Kimmel Center and New York’s Carnegie Hall.
Symphony in D, commissioned by the Detroit Symphony, was premiered in November of 2015 by the Detroit Symphony under the baton of Leonard Slatkin. Watch here.
A Symphony for Lucerne, commissioned by the Lucerne Festival, was premiered in September 2015, with Matthias Pintscher conducting the Lucerne Festival Academy Orchestra. Watch the premier performance here.
Vocal Vibrations, commissioned by Le Laboratoire, was on exhibit from March to September 2014 in Paris, France. The installation opened at the new Le Laboratoire in Cambridge, Massachusetts, in October 2014.
A Symphony for Perth, commissioned by the 2014 Perth International Arts Festival and premiered on March 1, 2014, with the Western Australia Symphony Orchestra conducted by Carolyn Kuan.
Death and the Powers, performed at the Dallas Opera with a first-ever live, global Simulcast to nine theaters around the world.
Festival City, commissioned by the 2013 Edinburgh International Festival. It received its premier performance on August 27th, 2013, with the Royal Scottish Orchestra under the baton of Peter Oundjian.
A Toronto Symphony: Concerto for Composer and City. In this project, Tod Machover invites the residents of Toronto to collaborate in the creation of a new orchestral work, which will be premiered by the Toronto Symphony in 2013.
Death and the Powers. In addition to the posts on this blog, you will find information about the opera at the official Death and the Powers Web site.
The story of Death and the Powers:
- Synposis in English
- Synopsis in French
- Libretto by Robert Pinsky (previous version) – Posted on Poetry Foundation site
Opera of the Future 
For possible free tickets:
don’t know what its called, “that every movement, or singing or music sound seems to control the lights and set movement. The colors of lights obviously depict an emotion from the opera. Exciting! That Mr. Machover wants to have even more of every movement of hands, fingers, legs change something in the overall set. Wow! Love this!