Part of the 2010 Next Wave Festival

Oct 14—16, 2010, 7:30pm

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 ingenious and often beautiful fusion of contemporary classical strains and Balinese gamelan" —San Francisco Chronicle

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

BAM Howard Gilman Opera House
95min, no intermission
Tickets: $20, 40, 60

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

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.