''Welcome to the Voice'' is a bilingual

opera Opera is a form of theatre in which music is a fundamental component and dramatic roles are taken by singers. Such a "work" (the literal translation of the Italian word "opera") is typically a collaboration between a composer and a librett ...

( French and

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

) based on an original story and

libretto A libretto (Italian for "booklet") is the text used in, or intended for, an extended musical work such as an opera, operetta, masque, oratorio, cantata or Musical theatre, musical. The term ''libretto'' is also sometimes used to refer to the t ...

by Muriel Téodori with music composed by

Steve Nieve Steve Nieve ( "naïve"; born Stephen John Nason, 21 February 1958) is an English musician and composer. In a career spanning more than 40 years, Nieve has been a member of Elvis Costello's backing bands the Attractions, the Imposters and Madnes ...

. A first draft was given a workshop performance at the Bell Atlantic Jazz Festival In

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

in 2000. The performance cast was

Elvis Costello Declan Patrick MacManus Order of the British Empire, OBE (born 25 August 1954), known professionally as Elvis Costello, is an English singer-songwriter and record producer. He has won multiple awards in his career, including a Grammy Award in ...

Ron Sexsmith Ronald Eldon Sexsmith (born January 8, 1964) is a Canadian singer-songwriter from St. Catharines, Ontario. He was the songwriter of the year at the 2005 Juno Awards. He began releasing recordings of his own material in 1985 at age 21, and has ...

John Flansburgh John Conant Flansburgh (born May 6, 1960) is an American musician. He is half of the long-standing Brooklyn, New York-based alternative rock duo They Might Be Giants with John Linnell, for which he writes, sings, and plays rhythm guitar. Commo ...

and students of the Juilliard School of Music. Musicians were

Brodsky Quartet The Brodsky Quartet is a British string quartet, formed in Middlesbrough, North Yorkshire, in 1972 as the "Cleveland Quartet". Only Ian Belton and Jacqueline Thomas remain as original members. In addition to performing classical music, and in par ...

, Nieve, and

Ned Rothenberg Ned Rothenberg (born September 15, 1956) is an American multi-instrumentalist and composer. He specializes in woodwind instruments, including the alto saxophone, clarinet, bass clarinet, flute, and shakuhachi (Japanese bamboo flute). He is known ...

. Following this exploratory first attempt, ''Welcome to the Voice'' was expanded. Sting took the lead role and Elvis Costello became the Chief of Police previously interpreted by John Flansburgh. Robert Wyatt replaced Ron Sexsmith in the role of the friend. This completed the extraordinary male cast for the subsequent recording of the work for Deutsch Gramaphon. The female lead role was interpreted by Barbara Bonney as the Diva. She was joined by Amanda Roocroft, Sara Fulgoni and the French opera singer Nathalie Manfrino. The band of improvising musicians was also augmented by the addition of New York guitarist Marc Ribot.

Synopsis

The story concerns a

Greek Greek may refer to: Greece Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group. *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family. **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...

immigrant steelworker Dionysos, who discovers the music of classical opera. It becomes an obsession, when he falls in love with the voice of a young

opera singer Opera is a form of theatre in which music is a fundamental component and dramatic roles are taken by singers. Such a "work" (the literal translation of the Italian word "opera") is typically a collaboration between a composer and a libretti ...

. His workmates try to persuade him to return to work, but he is determined to live on the steps of the opera house, and meet the woman whose voice has enraptured him. In the night he is visited by ghosts of opera's past (

Carmen ''Carmen'' () is an opera in four acts by the French composer Georges Bizet. The libretto was written by Henri Meilhac and Ludovic Halévy, based on the Carmen (novella), novella of the same title by Prosper Mérimée. The opera was first perfo ...

Madama Butterfly ''Madama Butterfly'' (; ''Madame Butterfly'') is an opera in three acts (originally two) by Giacomo Puccini, with an Italian libretto by Luigi Illica and Giuseppe Giacosa. It is based on the short story "Madame Butterfly" (1898) by John Luther ...

, and

Norma Norma may refer to: * Norma (given name), a given name (including a list of people with the name) Astronomy *Norma (constellation) * 555 Norma, a minor asteroid *Cygnus Arm or Norma Arm, a spiral arm in the Milky Way galaxy Geography *Norma, Lazi ...

). They tell him he is too much like a character from an opera, that he should kill himself to join them in opera heaven. Dionysos is not convinced by them. The following morning he sees the opera singer in the street; she is shopping for some rare perfume. He cannot stop himself from grabbing her arm. He tries to embrace her. The police stop him, and want to make an example of him.

Recording

In 2007 a studio recording of the work, produced by Nieve/Téodori, was released by

Deutsche Grammophon Deutsche Grammophon (; DGG) is a German classical music record label that was the precursor of the corporation PolyGram. Headquartered in Berlin Friedrichshain, it is now part of Universal Music Group (UMG) since its merger with the UMG family of ...

External links

''The New York Times'' reviewInterview with Steve NieveDeutsche Grammophon album pageAllMusic album page
Multiple-language operas Operas by Steve Nieve 2000 operas Operas {{opera-stub