Opera
A House in Bali
NY Premiere
Bang on a Can All-Stars & Gamelan Salukat
Music by Evan Ziporyn
Libretto by Paul Schick (based on the memoir of Colin
McPhee)
Directed by Jay Scheib
An iconoclastic composer, an encounter with a secluded island,
and a discovery set to the effervescent strains of Balinese gamelan
music are the subjects of A House in Bali, a bold new
opera by Evan Ziporyn and directed by Jay Scheib. Based on the
memoirs of trailblazing composer Colin McPhee, A House in
Bali re-imagines the true story of one man's sojourn to Bali
through the contemporary lens of our globalized present.
The sounds of a 16-member Balinese gamelan orchestra-deftly paired
with the pulsating post-minimalism of the Bang on a Can
All-Stars-fill the air as McPhee immerses himself in the island's
culture, conferring with fellow émigrés anthropologist Margaret
Mead and painter Walter Spies. Engrossing images from 1930s
Bali-many taken by Mead herself-merge with live video, mesmerizing
music, and traditional Balinese art forms to tell of one man's
musical enlightenment, and the cultural awakening it inspired.
Presented in association with Asia Society
Choreography by Kadek Dewi Aryani and I Nyoman Catra
Set design by Sara Brown
Costume design by Oana Botez-Ban
Lighting design by Peter Ksander
Sound design by Andrew Cotton
Video design by Jay Scheib and AKA
Featured performers also include Indonesian musician Dewa Ketut
Alit, tenor Peter Tantsits as Colin McPhee, dancers Kadek Dewi
Aryani and Desak Madé Suarti Laksmi, Balinese masked dancer I
Nyoman Catra, tenor Timur Bekbosunov, soprano Anne Harley, and
Nyoman Triyana Usadhi.
A House in Bali was commissioned by Real Time Opera with
support from the LEF Foundation, the Argosy Foundation, and the The
Byrne Foundation. A House in Bali is made possible by
generous support from the NIB Foundation.