San Francisco Opera Presents the Bay Area Premiere of THE (R)EVOLUTION OF STEVE JOBS

San Francisco Opera’s 101st season continues with the highly anticipated Bay Area premiere of The (R)evolution of Steve Jobs opening on Friday, September 22. The San Francisco Opera co-commissioned opera by Bay Area composer Mason Bates and Pulitzer Prize-winning librettist Mark Campbell is presented in its original production directed by Kevin Newbury. Conductor Michael Christie leads the San Francisco Opera cast, Orchestra and Chorus, prepared by Chorus Director John Keene. Bates joins the Orchestra in the pit to perform the score's electronic components.

The (R)evolution of Steve Jobs is a 90-minute, electro-acoustic opera in one act which follows the titular tech mogul through a series of non-linear flashback episodes. Mason Bates said, "The story of Steve Jobs exists at the intersection of creativity, technology and human communication—a thematic crossroads that opera can explore unlike any other medium." The work expands on the Wagnerian concept of leitmotifs—melodies assigned to specific actions and characters—as the persons in the story have their own soundworlds. "Each character in this opera walks onstage with not only a theme but an entire sonic identity," said the composer. "As they interact, their musics collide, blending almost as if mixed by a DJ."

Proclaimed “a winning opera” by the Los Angeles Times at its 2017 world premiere in Santa Fe, The (R)evolution of Steve Jobs won the Grammy Award for Best Opera Recording in 2019. The work has been presented by seven different opera companies and in multiple productions. San Francisco Opera's performances, originally scheduled for June 2020 and delayed by the pandemic, will bring the work to the Bay Area and Silicon Valley environs that provide its setting.

The intersection of music and technology is a central tenet of Mason Bates' creative work as a composer, DJ and curator. Championed by conductors Michael Tilson Thomas, Riccardo Muti and Marin Alsop, Bates' symphonic compositions have receive widespread acclaim for their unique integration of electronic sounds. He is a former composer-in-residence for both the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and is the co-founder and artistic director for Mercury Soul, a presenter known for combining electronica and classical music. The (R)evolution of Steve Jobs is Bates' first opera for which he collaborated with librettist Mark Campbell. At the forefront of the contemporary opera scene, Campbell's libretti credits include notable new operas like As One, The Shining and Elizabeth Cree. Campbell's 2012 collaboration with Kevin Puts on Silent Night won the Pulitzer Prize for music.

Kevin Newbury returns to San Francisco Opera, where he has directed Bellini's Norma and Mark Adamo's The Gospel of Mary Magdalene, to stage his original, fast-moving production of The (R)evolution of Steve Jobs. Conductor Michael Christie, who led the first performances of Bates and Campbell's opera and the Grammy Award-winning recording, will be on the podium. Christie made his San Francisco Opera debut in 2013 leading the world premiere of The Gospel of Mary Magdalene.

About the staging, the Seattle Times commented: “And we have to talk about the ridiculously gorgeous production design, which uses projection and lighting cues to transform a spare set of white-screened rectangular boxes into all of the locations and moods the story needs.” The production showcases the work of set designer Victoria (Vita) Tzykun, lighting designer Japhy Weideman with projection designs by Ben Pearcy and London-based 59 Productions, whose credits include the acclaimed production of Philip Glass’ Satyagraha presented by the Metropolitan Opera and LA Opera. Costumes for The (R)evolution of Steve Jobs are designed by Paul Carey and the sound designer is Rick Jacobsohn. San Francisco Opera Dance Master Colm Seery is the revival choreographer.

The cast is headed by baritone John Moore who makes his Company debut as the iconoclastic Steve Jobs. Hailed for his "handsome timbre, unflagging energy, and an easy command of the stage" (Seattle Times), Moore has won considerable praise for his interpretation of Steve Jobs with companies in Seattle, Atlanta, Austin, Kansas City and Utah.

Mezzo-soprano Sasha Cooke, who “radiantly personified” (Dallas Morning News) Laurene Powell Jobs at the world premiere, reprises the role. A favorite collaborator with many Bay Area institutions, Cooke's memorable stage interpretations for San Francisco Opera have included her 2013 Company debut as the title role of The Gospel of Mary Magdalene, Anna in Berlioz's Les Troyens, Magdalena in Wagner's Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg, the title role of Handel's Orlando and Hansel in Humperdink's Hansel and Gretel.

Bass Wei Wu makes his Company debut as Jobs' spiritual advisor Kōbun Chino Otogawa, the role he created in the opera's first performances. Tenor Bille Bruley appears with San Francisco Opera for the first time as Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak. First-year San Francisco Opera Adler Fellow soprano Olivia Smith portrays Jobs' girlfriend Chrisann Brennan.

The (R)evolution of Steve Jobs is inspired by the life and creative spirit of Steve Jobs and does not purport to depict actual events as they occurred or statements, beliefs or opinions of the persons depicted. It has not been authorized or endorsed by Apple Inc., the Estate or Family of Steve Jobs or by any persons depicted.

San Francisco Opera's commitment to expanding the operatic repertoire has produced 30 commissions/co-commissions by many leading composers including John Adams, Gabriela Lena Frank, Philip Glass, Jake Heggie, André Previn and Bright Sheng. Bates and Campbell's The (R)evolution of Steve Jobs is the first of three San Francisco Opera co-commissions to be presented during the Company's 101st season with the Pulitzer Prize-winning Omar (Nov 5–21) by Rhiannon Giddens and Michael Abels, and the late Kaija Saariaho's Innocence (June 1–21) in its U.S. premiere.

Sung in English with English supertitles, the six performances of The (R)evolution of Steve Jobs are scheduled for September 22 (7:30 p.m.), 24 (2 p.m.), 27 (7:30 p.m.), 30 (7:30 p.m.); October 3 (7:30 p.m.), 7 (7:30 p.m.), 2023.

To post a comment, you must register and login.