They can both receive projections from the stage and also from within the boxes themselves. They glide smoothly, guided by hand by a pair of chorus members. The construction of these screens is quite ingenious. The mini-monolith doesn’t feature as a plot point beyond this scene, but its presence is always felt because the set itself is composed of six moving screens, scaled like giant iPhones. The big opening number (I’m not counting the prologue, a quiet, brief childhood flashback) is a brilliant introduction to the character of the adult Jobs, the anti-hero, and the omnipresent “pocket computer” (the iPhone, his opera magnum). Lyrically, the strongest writing is in the first half.
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This task is demanded by a libretto that hops achronologically through key points in Jobs’ life.
Though I personally might have found the guitar a touch cloying at points, I recognize the talent required to conjure the baroque within one scene and a touch of flamenco in another. The driving, electric syncopation in the through-composed transitions make it all feel totally natural. Bates balances a great range of instruments and modes, both electronic and acoustic. Composer Mason Bates is worthy of the Contemporary Classical Grammy nomination he received. This is not to say that the music doesn’t hold its own. It is apt that they should so dominate the stage at The (R)evolution of Steve Jobs, the 2017 opera making its west coast premiere at Seattle Opera tonight. And the simplified, sleekness of Apple products (an idiot-proof lovechild of Bauhaus and Zen) are iconic, and inescapable now. He had a relentless pursuit of the supremacy of his idea of aesthetic perfection.
Like a lot of people who helped define our culture, Steve Jobs was revered and reviled.
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