USA: Composer and inventor Tod Machover talks about his latest opera "Death and the Powers"

Record ID: 401619

  • Title: USA: Composer and inventor Tod Machover talks about his latest opera "Death and the Powers"
  • Date: 23rd February 2011
  • Summary: NEW YORK CITY, NEW YORK, UNITED STATES (FEBRUARY 22, 2011) (REUTERS) (SOUNDBITE) (English) TOD MACHOVER, COMPOSER, SAYING: "I've got to say, of course we're nervous about it, but it works really, really well. The people who are nervous are the orchestra sitting in the orchestra pit. The poor conductor who is a good friend of mine, he kind of jokes about it, but it's like
  • Embargoed: 10th March 2011 12:00
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  • Location: Usa, Usa
  • Country: USA
  • Topics: Entertainment
  • Reuters ID: LVA2VGMBB91NETAY89CEQ91KABDR
  • Story Text: Composer and inventor Tod Machover talks about his latest opera "Death and the Powers". The show, making its North American premiere in Boston, sets itself apart from other operas through the use of cutting-edge performance technologies.
    He has been called "America's most wired composer" by the Los Angeles Times newspaper, but when you ask Tod Machover how he would describe himself, he simply says, he's a composer and an inventor.
    "Almost always when I have an idea, what it feels like to perform it, what it feels like to share it with an audience comes along with the idea. And along with that is usually I have to figure out some new form to make this possible, so it's all mixed together," explained Machover.
    Machover is the mastermind behind a new groundbreaking opera called "Death and the Powers," also known as the robot opera. The show will make its U.S. premiere at Harvard's American Repertory Theater in Boston, Massachusetts.
    The opera merges musical theatre with technological advancements in order to give the audience an interactive experience.
    "It's a story basically about a guy who's going to die. And he wants everything about himself to be, to stay in the world, he wants his memories and his abilities to communicate with his loved ones and he particular wants to manipulate his businesses. And the story is really about how his wife and his daughter and the people who work with him react to him leaving and going into the system. Is he gone, is he there can they really communicate with him? If he's there has he found a better form of existence," Machover told Reuters.
    It takes roughly 30 people to put on the production each night broken down into various teams. The audio team is responsible for operating the world's longest and thinnest loud speaker that goes from one end of the stage to the other that pin points sound around the stage. The robot team has the heavy responsibility of making sure the robots hit their marks.
    "The people who are nervous are the orchestra sitting in the orchestra pit. The poor conductor, who is a good friend of mine, he kind of jokes about it, but it's like, oh my God, if a robot goes over the edge what's going to happen," Machover said while laughing.
    Monte-Carlo critics and audiences marveled after its debut calling the performance grand, rich and deeply serious. Which was somewhat as a relief as Machover talked about his opening night jitters.
    "Here were all these VIPs, I mean you have the Prince of Monaco was there and opera lovers. And it just struck me, kind of how bold and radical this was, and once the music started I just started, just for a minute I thought, I really stuck my neck out on this, what are people actually going to think. Until that point I didn't actually really think that. I just followed what I really believed in," explained the composer.
    The native New Yorker's interest in mixing music and engineering started while he was a student at Julliard in the late 70s. He explained this is when he started imaging sounds that were not possible to make with traditional instruments. From there Machover learned how to master programming in order to create software that could create what he was imagining. This lead to Machover's most notable inventions, the hypercello, which he developed for cellist Yo Yo Ma.
    After this Machover went on to develop a musical chair for magicians Penn and Teller, and then Machover's biggest mistake.
    "Actually the stupidest thing I ever did in my life, and I've done a bunch of stupid things. Prince actually wanted to do, he saw the video, and he wanted to make a line of musical furniture which actually would have been, and I said no," Machover said regrettably.
    However, he did go on to work with Prince on a project for one of his world tours using the technology from the chair.
    Machover is currently a professor of Music and Media and Director of the Opera of the Future Group at the MIT Media Lab. And while many people would have stopped after successfully creating a robot opera , Machover has his sights set on an even larger goal.
    "I think in the future we will be able to fine tune music almost like a prescription. Make music that you like, but make it so that because of what you've listened to before what your personality is how you feel today, what you really need, the music hits your sweet spot and is just a much more powerful experience because of that, it's kind of personal music," said Machover.
    Death and the Powers will open March 18 at Harvard's American Repertory Theater and April 2 at Chicago's Opera Theater.
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