''The (R)evolution of Steve Jobs'' is an opera with music by American composer

Mason Bates Mason Wesley Bates (born January 23, 1977) is a Grammy award-winning American composer of symphonic music and DJ of electronic dance music. He is the first composer-in-residence of the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, and he has also bee ...

and an English-language libretto by Mark Campbell. It was commissioned by

Santa Fe Opera Santa Fe Opera (SFO) is an American opera company, located north of Santa Fe, New Mexico. After creating the ''Opera Association of New Mexico'' in 1956, its founding director, John Crosby, oversaw the building of the first opera house on a newl ...

Seattle Opera Seattle Opera is an opera company based in Seattle, Washington. It was founded in 1963 by Glynn Ross, who served as its first general director until 1983. The company's season runs from August through late May, comprising five or six operas of ...

San Francisco Opera San Francisco Opera (SFO) is an American opera company founded in 1923 by Gaetano Merola (1881–1953) based in San Francisco, California. History Gaetano Merola (1923–1953) Merola's road to prominence in the Bay Area began in 1906 when h ...

, the

Jacobs School of Music The Indiana University Jacobs School of Music in Bloomington, Indiana, is a music conservatory established in 1921. Until 2005, it was known as the Indiana University School of Music. It has more than 1,500 students, approximately half of whom ar ...

at Indiana University, with support from

Cal Performances Cal Performances is the performing arts presenting, commissioning and producing organization based at the University of California, Berkeley in Berkeley, California. The origins of Cal Performances date from 1906, when stage actress Sarah Bernhardt ...

. The opera is about one of the most influential people in recent history; it is set at a time when he must confront his own mortality and circle back on the events that shaped his personal and professional life.

Performance history

The world premiere took place at the Santa Fe Opera in 2017, conducted by Michael Christie. The original production featured direction by Kevin Newbury, scenic design by Vita Tzykun, costume design by Paul Carey, lighting design by Japhy Weideman, projection design by Ben Pearcy for 59 Productions, and sound design by Rick Jacobsohn and Brian Losch; it was a co-production of Santa Fe Opera, Seattle Opera, San Francisco Opera, and the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music. ''The (R)evolution of Steve Jobs'' was the most popular new opera in Santa Fe Opera's history and one of the top-selling operas in the company's history. An extra performance had to be added to accommodate the demand for tickets. In May 2018, a recording of the work was issued under the Pentatone label; Bates and Campbell received

Grammy Award The Grammy Awards (stylized as GRAMMY), or simply known as the Grammys, are awards presented by the Recording Academy of the United States to recognize "outstanding" achievements in the music industry. They are regarded by many as the most pr ...

nominations for Best Contemporary Classical Composition, engineers Mark Donahue and Dirk Sobotka were nominated for Best Engineered Album (Classical), and Elizabeth Ostrow was nominated for Producer of the Year (Classical). The recording won the 2019 Grammy for Best Opera Recording (honoring conductor Michael Christie, producer Elizabeth Ostrow, and principal soloists Sasha Cooke, Jessica E. Jones, Edward Parks, Garrett Sorenson, and Wei Wu). Bates was drawn to Steve Jobs as the subject for an opera, because, he says, opera “can illuminate the interior thoughts of different characters simultaneously through the juxtaposition of individual themes. That makes it an ideal medium to explore a man who revolutionized how we communicate.” Bates asked Mark Campbell, one of America's leading opera librettists, to create the story in the libretto. According to Campbell, “Learning that Jobs was a Buddhist his entire adult life lead me to the ensō, the circle that is drawn in Japanese calligraphy to express enlightenment. I connected that with Jobs’ habit of taking long walks and the Zen practice of pacing in a circular pattern called a kinhin and began to develop a story in which Steve ‘circles back’ on his life. The title actually refers less to the revolution Jobs helped create in technology rather than the kinhin of self-reflection that propels the story.” Gary Rydstrom of Skywalker Sound assisted Bates with the production of the opera’s electronic sounds. There have been two other presentations of the original Santa Fe production, with a third planned in 2020 and a fourth in 2021. * Indiana University's

presented four performances of the opera in 2018 in their Musical Arts Center. Michael Christie conducted a student cast. *

presented the opera in

McCaw Hall Marion Oliver McCaw Hall (often abbreviated to McCaw Hall) is a performing arts hall in Seattle, Washington, United States. Located on the grounds of Seattle Center and owned by the city of Seattle, McCaw Hall's two principal tenants are the Seat ...

, with seven performances in February and March 2019. Garrett Sorenson reprised the role of "Woz", and Nicole Paiement conducting in her Seattle Opera debut. *

will present the opera in

War Memorial Opera House The War Memorial Opera House is an opera house in San Francisco, California, located on the western side of Van Ness Avenue across from the west side/rear facade of the San Francisco City Hall. It is part of the San Francisco War Memorial and ...

for a run of seven performances in June and July 2020. Edward Parks, Sasha Cooke, Garrett Sorenson, and Wei Wu are scheduled to reprise their roles from the Santa Fe run, with Michael Christie returning as conductor. * A production at the Lyric Opera of Kansas City was scheduled for Spring 2021 but was postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Three performances for the Lyric Opera of Kansas City were performed at the Kauffman Center in March 2022. * Atlanta Opera had four performances at the Cobb Energy Center between April 30 and May 8, 2022. * Calgary Opera has three performances scheduled for February 2023.

Roles

Synopsis

This one-act opera features roles based on real-life figures Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak,

Chrisann Brennan Chrisann Brennan (born September 29, 1954) is an American painter and memoirist. She is the author of '' The Bite in the Apple'', an autobiography about her relationship with Apple co-founder Steve Jobs. They had one child, Lisa Brennan-Jobs. ...

Kōbun Chino Otogawa (February 1, 1938 – July 26, 2002) was an American Sōtō Zen priest. Biography Otogawa, who preferred to be called by his first name, rather than by either of the Japanese Zen honorifics: ''sensei'' (teacher) or ''roshi'' (master), came ...

, and Laurene Powell. Inspired by the life and creative spirit of Steve Jobs, the opera does not purport to depict actual events as they occurred or statements, beliefs, or opinions of the persons depicted.

Discography

* Parks, Cooke, Wu, Sorenson; Christie, 2017 ( Pentatone (record label)) - Grammy Award Winner, Best Opera Recording

Sources

External links

Musical highlights
Seattle Opera, soundcloud.com {{DEFAULTSORT:Revolution of Steve Jobs, The 2017 operas Cultural depictions of Steve Jobs English-language operas Operas Operas based on real people Operas set in the 20th century Operas set in the United States Operas set in the 21st century Compositions by Mason Bates