Languagemachine
“languagemachine” is a one-act opera written by Lauren D’Errico and composed by Ramin Akhavijou in 2019. The world premiere of this opera took place in Pittsburgh USA on April 13th, 2019 where the opera was produced by Pittsburgh Opera and performed by CMU Contemporary Music Ensemble under the baton of Daniel Nesta Curtis.
Synopsis:
In a not-so-distant future, a waste prevention initiative called The Language Machine has been put in place to cut down the time that people spend speaking — but what began as the erasure of “um” and “like” has eliminated almost all of the English language. Amidst global institution of the initiative, Diana and Andy struggle through the last full conversation of their marriage. Meanwhile, Charles and Lucie, two operators of The Language Machine, irreversibly change their once-successful working relationship when they peak inside of the machine and gain access to all the world’s words. As language grows less and less and more and more, the two pairs must learn how to navigate the complexities of communication anew.
- LIBRETTO: LAUREN D’ERRICO
- COMPOSER: RAMIN AKHAVIJOU
- 2 SOPRANO, TENOR, BARITON, FLUTE, CLARINET, BASSOON, 2VIOLIN, VIOLA, VIOLONCELLO, DOUBLE BASS, PIANO, PERCUSSION, ELECTRONIC SOUNDS (FIXED MEDIA)
- PREMIER: APRIL 13TH 2019, PITTSBURGH OPERA, CMU CONTEMPORARY MUSIC ENSEMBLE
CONDUCTOR: DANIEL NESTA CURTIS
The collaborators for the first performance:
Conductor: Daniel Curtis
Director: Brandy Carie
Scenic design: Dana Weintraub
Lighting design: Anirudh Anand
Costumes: Jean-Luc DeLadurantaye
Media design: Sean B. Leo
Soprano, Emily Gallagher
Soprano, Chantal L. Braziel
Tenor, William Ottow
Baritone, Caleb Glickman