Steve Jobs doesn’t aspire to present a historical account of the man’s journey from ambitious entrepreneur to technology genius. Opera loves complex characters who are embroiled in messy situations and relationships, so cue Steve Jobs: Perhaps no one in the public sphere during the late 20th and early 21st centuries was more torn than this figure whose triumph in revolutionizing technology was accompanied by personal demons, and whose life was cut short by pancreatic cancer. As Apple co-founder, Edward Parks sings with ‘fierce commitment.’įew operas – let alone first operas – achieve the instant success that appears to be the happy fate of Steve Jobs, a work of almost relentless appeal and creativity, thanks to a glistening Bates score, a tautly structured and witty libretto by Mark Campbell, and a production abounding in stunning and purposeful visual feats.Ĭould anything of topical interest claim more relevance than the pulsating sounds and images that this opera conjures with so many surges of aesthetic energy? Jobs, after all, was the visionary co-founder of Apple, the company he led with obsessive and sometimes inhumane vehemence, and the brains behind the transformative communication tool – the “one device,” as he calls it here – that became the iPhone. Then there’s someone like Mason Bates, who has shot out of the starting gate and raced across the finish line with his first opera, The (R)evolution of Steve Jobs, which had its world premiere July 22 at the Santa Fe Opera.
– Composers who attempt to tame the artistic beast known as opera often must make several tries before coming close to their goal, if they ever do. (Photos: Ken Howard for Santa Fe Opera, 2017) By Donald Rosenberg Steve Jobs’ by composer Mason Bates and librettist Mark Campbell.
Steve Jobs (baritone Edward Parks) launches the iPhone in the Santa Fe Opera world premiere of ‘The (R)evolution of
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