Tickets are free. Please RSVP in advance.
An audio opera by Lisa Mezzacappa & Beth Lisick
The Center for New Music and the Paul Dresher Ensemble co-host an online Zoom event with the cast and creators of The Electronic Lover, a new podcast opera by Bay Area composer Lisa Mezzacappa and New York writer Beth Lisick, on Saturday, February 27 at 7pm PST. The free event celebrates the release of the opera’s second episode on March 1.
**Attendees are encouraged to listen to Episode 1 in advance of this event! Go to www.theelectroniclover.com or find The Electronic Lover on the Apple Podcasts or Google Podcasts apps.
The Electronic Lover is a serial audio drama set in Internet chatrooms in the early 1980s, at the moment when we first invited computers into the most intimate aspects of our lives. The cast includes six lead vocalists whose careers as performers and songwriters encompass jazz, classical, opera, indie pop, Afrobeat and art rock: Karina Denike, Michelle Amador, Katy Stephan, Melody Jeune Ferris, Nikola Printz and David James. In addition, a micro-choir specializing in contemporary vocal techniques features star experimental vocalists Danishta Rivero, Aurora Josephson, Jesse Olsen Bay and David Katz. The musicians are synthesizer virtuoso Steve Blum and percussion wizard Jordan Glenn, with Mezzacappa on electric and acoustic bass. Lisick narrates.
The podcast is free to stream or download on all the major podcast platforms, including Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Pocket Casts, Stitcher and Deezer. Full cast information, libretto text, and episode credits are available at theelectroniclover.com.
At this online Zoom event, the cast and creators will introduce Episode 2 and then settle in for a group listening party with the audience, with a Q&A to follow, moderated by composer Paul Dresher. The event is free and open to the public, but all attendees must RSVP in advance. Click “buy tickets” to RSVP. Attendees will receive an email with the Zoom link and instructions on how to join approximately 30 minutes before the showtime.
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Episode 2 of The Electronic Lover was commissioned by the Paul Dresher Ensemble with support from the Gerbode Foundation, and also received support from InterMusic SF and the City of Berkeley Civic Grants program.