Jacob's Room

American composer and electronic music pioneer Morton Subotnick is developing his opera, Jacob’s Room, into a fully staged production, thanks to the support of soniq performing arts and the Bregenz Festival. Subotnick, who was an early innovator in electronic music and whose popularity was bolstered by the electronica movement in the 1990s, is most known for his multimedia works, including Jacob’s Room, which saw its non-staged concert premiere in 1989. This piece tells the story of a survivor of genocide, expressing his traumatic experiences through musical theater. Subotnick draws on several texts for this opera. At birth, Jacob loses his mother, who sacrifices herself for him; years later, in the British Museum in London, Jacob finally liberates himself from the guilt associated with his mother’s death in an inner mental discovery. The title refers to this “thought room” that Jacob develops. There he meets The Guide, who directs him through his past to meet his mother and his grandfather. One after another, poetic and theatrical pictures emerge from this trip, associating with Jacob’s past. At the end of the journey, Jacob glances through the window of the museum at the rainy city of London and, for the first time, can see life’s beauty, and also its banality, with astonishing clarity.

Morton Subotnick’s understanding of theater follows in the steps of others of his generation, such as Robert Wilson, Meredith Monk and Robert Ashley. Subotnick models sound within the theatrical space; he works with the extended vocal techniques that his wife Joan La Barbara is renowned world-wide. The role of The Guide was originally written for La Barbara, who will work as a vocal coach for this production.

The spatial experience of the music and the associated visual language requires an extremely cohesive design concept; director, sculptor, and performing artist Mirella Weingarten’s production will employ an installation similar to her previous kinetic sculpture works. Media artist Lillevan will design video elements that are integrated into the set design, as well as manipulate the video live on stage during performances. Ari Benjamin Meyers, musical director of the Redux Orchestra will serve as music director. By virtue of the variety of his work experience from clubs to opera houses and his particular focus on American Minimalism, Meyers is especially appropriate for this project.