Modulation (2021)

This is from the LA Opera; it was advertised on facebook as an interactive piece, which certainly made me raise an eyebrow. I was skeptical, but I definitely had to see it. And it's my first 2021 opera, if we want to call it an opera!

Well, okay, let's be serious: "interactive" is really pushing it, and in fact I have to laugh--hopefully not in a mean-spirited way--at their idea that this is some sort of groundbreaking thing. "The piece puts audience members in control," their press release reads, "allowing them to navigate through a landscape of new musical pieces exploring themes of isolation, identity, and fear." What this amount to in practice is a menu with three submenus, each featuring new-age-y images. Ambient music plays over them, and there are twelve short pieces, between four and six minutes each, that you can select from. This seems less "groundbreaking" and more "hypercard-based CD-ROM release from the nineties." That's okay; I actually found it kind of charming in its quaintness. But i wouldn't say it's exactly pushing any boundaries. Still, it is a bit rich to say that it "puts audience members in control:" sure, you can watch them in whatever order, but there's absolutely nothing that would make your "choices" anything other than totally arbitrary. Come on now.

Okay, but what are the individual pieces like? Well...in theory they're meant to be in some way about 2020, meaning a lot of stuff "about" COVID and BLM and whatnot, but all presented very obliquely, like the more obscure #OperaHarmony pieces--none of them even try to create any kind of narrative. There's one by Daniel Bernard Roumain--who wrote We Shall Not Be Moved, an opera I rather liked--but otherwise, I don't know any of the composers. And...I'm not overly impressed with most of their work, either. I suppose if I had to choose a favorite, I might go with Sahba Aminikia's "Ayene," which is apparently in some way about US/Iran relations (I say "apparently" because it's really not easy to discern, even if I like it)--sung in Farsi! Haunting music; good groove. Least favorite? It seems mean to single one out, but Paul Pinto's "Blanc," about racial relations and whiteness, just has this tremendously irritating slam poetry aesthetic that I can't stand.

In fairness, it's becoming clear that it's extremely difficult to create a really satisfying micro-opera; one that scratches the same itch as full-length pieces. But regardless, I can't say I'm overly impressed here. Access to it costs twenty-five dollars. I don't begrudge LA Opera the money; they do some good work and of course I believe in supporting the arts. But if I were thinking about it just in terms of Modulation itself, I'd have to say: definitely not worth it.  Say what you like about #OperaHarmony, but it featured a number of pieces better than anything here, and it was free.  So...you know.