Cerise Jacobs’ Video Game Opera ‘PermaDeath’ To World Premiere In Boston

By Francisco Salazar

Cerise Jacobs’ video game opera “Permadeath will premiere in Boston.

The opera written by Jacobs and her son Pirate Epstein was composed by Dan Visconti will make its premiere at Boston’s Cutler Majestic Theater on Sept.  27-29, 2018.

When Jacobs’ wrote the opera, her vision was to build her libretto around a fictional video game in the style of the wildly popular massively multi-player online games and to merge the “real” and video game universes in a hybrid that suggests the reality-distortion experienced by the gamers themselves.

Jacobs turned to composer Visconti, who works at the intersection of classical and video game music. Known for composing concert music infused with the rough timbres, propulsive rhythms, and improvisational energy characteristic of jazz, bluegrass, and rock, Visconti is also a classically-trained violinist, resulting in a cross-pollination the Cleveland Plain Dealer describes as “both mature and youthful, bristling with exhilarating musical ideas and a powerfully crafted lyricism.”

“PermaDeath” will star soprano Amy Shoremount-Obra; mezzo-sopranos Sarah Coit and Shirin Eskandani, countertenor Patrick Dailey, tenor Stephen Carroll, and bass-baritones Josh Quinn and Christopher Carbin.

Performance Information:

Cerise Jacobs: PermaDeath world premiere
Sep 27-29
Boston, MA
Cutler Majestic Theater

Creatives:
Composer: Dan Visconti
Creator and Librettist: Cerise Lim Jacobs
Co-Librettist: Pirate Epstein
Dramaturg: Cori Ellison
Music Supervisor: Joshua Jandreau

Director: Sam Helfrich
Costume and Set Designer: Zane Pihlstrom
Digital Content Designer: Curvin Huber
Director of Preproduction and Animation: Catriona Baker

Executive Producer: White Snake Projects
Producer: Georgia Lyman

Categories

IndieOpera