{"id":15864,"date":"2023-09-20T13:47:56","date_gmt":"2023-09-20T17:47:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.opus3artists.com\/?p=15864"},"modified":"2025-03-17T14:01:12","modified_gmt":"2025-03-17T18:01:12","slug":"critical-acclaim-for-the-revolution-of-steve-jobs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.opus3artists.com\/critical-acclaim-for-the-revolution-of-steve-jobs\/","title":{"rendered":"Critical Acclaim for “The (R)evolution of Steve Jobs”"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cEnergy of the composer reacts to that of his subject to create something theatrically arresting & new.\u201d
\n\u2014 Wall Street Journal<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201c…Bates\u2019 musical setting… brilliantly captures all the implacable ambiguity and thrilling creative energy of the event.\u201d
\n\u2014 <\/em><\/strong>The San Francisco Chronicle<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cThe opera, which is having its world premiere at the Santa Fe Opera in a theatrically arresting production… draws you in at every opportunity.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAt the end of the world premiere of The (R)evolution of Steve Jobs, the audience roared its approval as if it had witnessed a blockbuster musical.\u201d
\n\u2014 Financial Times<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cExhilarating, moving, shocking, and enlightening\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cA gripping and illuminating musical, dramatic, and visual achievement \u2014 one that transcends the divides of generations and genres \u2014 has just joined the operatic canon.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe score swings between mechanical, extremely visceral passages and surprisingly touching, lyrical ones of timeless beauty. It carries a deeply human resonance, transcending the ever-increasing anonymity of our computer age. The opera\u2019s music is infused with wows and wonder, but also with warmth and wisdom.\u201d
\n\u2014 San Francisco Classical Voice<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

\u201c…Steve Jobs seems destined to enchant the very people who adore its namesake\u2019s sleek minimalist devices, which means pretty much everyone.\u201d
\n\u2014 The San Jose Mercury News<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cBates\u2019 music is some of his most inventive and alluring to date…\u201d
\n\u2014 Chicago Tribune<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

\u201c[Bates\u2019s] first opera reveals a genuine feeling for the theater.\u201d
\n\u2014 The Los Angeles Times<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cMason Bates, composer, and Mark Campbell, librettist, had a triumph on Saturday night with the world premiere of The (R)evolution of Steve Jobs at the Santa Fe Opera. The audience let out a whoop as soon as the music ended, and the curtain calls were downright raucous.\u201d
\n\u2014 The Washington Post<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s no question that the near-capacity audience for the second performance (July 26) voted its enthusiastic approval. They appeared won over as instantly as are the fictional conference attendees at the iPhone presentation, who join in singing one of the opera\u2019s key ideas: \u2018One device \/ All you need\u2026\u2019<\/p>\n

Which is to say: The (R)evolution of Steve Jobs makes a distinct first impression\u2014itself a laudable achievement for a debut opera\u2014and knows how to do what it wants to do effectively. The partnership between Bates and veteran librettist Campbell (who\u2019s pretty much become the sought-after Metastasio of the current crop of American opera composers) has produced a sleek, streamlined work that\u2019s user-friendly, ideally suited for frictionless consumption.\u201d
\n\u2014 Musical America<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cThe (R)evolution of Steve Jobs, an important, often thrilling new work\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cBates\u2019 score has equally playful moments. Powerful brassy passages alternate with the gentle sound of acoustic guitar. For each of the main characters, there is a specific sound world: Tibetan prayer bowls and soft Chinese gongs for the Buddhist temple scenes; a bustling mix of orchestra and electronics for Jobs; a grounded sense of calm for Laurene.<\/p>\n

\u2018Mason is changing what opera sounds like,\u2019 said Campbell.\u201d
\n\u2014 Minnesota Post<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cA good deal of advance chatter focused on Bates\u2019 use of electronic sounds, which he presided over from his computer setup in the orchestra pit. But it\u2019s not like olden days when superimposing electronic sounds over an orchestra had an oil-and-water quality.<\/p>\n

Bates has spoken of how he considers modern electronica to be a further family of symphonic music-making \u2014 strings, woodwinds, brass, percussion, electronica \u2014 and this score exemplifies his contention, with the electronic sounds weaving in and out of the integrated texture with a sense of inevitability.<\/p>\n

These are hardly unfamiliar sounds, to be sure. We hear them all the time in movie soundtracks, but Bates shows real expertise in using them to enlarge orchestral texture.\u201d
\n\u2014 The Santa Fe New Mexican<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

AT SAN FRANCISCO OPERA<\/strong>
\n\u201cSteve Jobs, the avatar of sleek perfectionism, turns human on the operatic stage\u2026The (R)evolution of Steve Jobs\u2026 tackles its subject with unhesitating assurance. From the virtuosic opening scene, in which Jobs gives an extended pitch for the transformative power of the newly released iPhone, through the translucent elegiac finale after he dies of pancreatic cancer, the opera maintains a double focus on both the man and his societal impact.<\/p>\n

Bates\u2019 score, built around an eclectic pop sensibility, bounces and hums with theatrical fervor \u2014 now reflective, now breathlessly driven. Campbell\u2019s libretto is full of tenderness and dry wit.<\/p>\n

What makes it such an ebullient and haunting evening in the opera house are the beauty and inventiveness of Bates\u2019 score and the brisk efficiency with which Campbell\u2026 splices together the piece\u2019s component scenes. It\u2019s a vibrant, spangly creation, as sleek and irresistible as anything coming out of Cupertino today with Jobs\u2019 minimalist aesthetic still posthumously lingering in its DNA.\u201d
\n\u2014 San Francisco Chronicle<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cThis is not your average opera, however. It begins, for one thing, with a product launch: a reimagining of Jobs taking the stage in 2007 to introduce the iPhone. Yet this is not a story about devices either \u2013 it is the story of a man grappling with mortality. Mr. Bates insists that The (R)evolution has classic operatic themes: \u2018passion, betrayal and, of course, tragedy.\u2019\u201d
\n\u2014 The Economist<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cThe (R)evolution of Steve Jobs is so good at drawing the audience in, forcing us to care about human invention, and the messy ways that society enters into large-scale behavioral shifts\u2026 Remarkably enjoyable\u2026 bring the kids \u2013 I did.\u201d
\n\u2014 KQED<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cA moving and accessible opera\u2026 Under the baton of Michael Christie, Bates\u2019 score takes us on an operatic journey through the fragmented memory of love, betrayal, obsession, and death, weaving together classical lyricism and a techno soundscape informed by the audio of early computers.\u201d
\n\u2014 MacDailyNews<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cThis one-act, engaging, mostly tonal, English-language opera is a dreamlike series of twenty scenes based on the life of innovator and entrepreneur Steve Jobs (1955\u20132011). It seamlessly blends technology, traditional operatic voices, and a full orchestra enhanced by the presence of the composer himself playing live electronics.\u201d
\n\u2014 Boston Musical Intelligencer<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cBates has invigorated the operatic form with a sound that feels wildly contemporary that audiences will relate to. \u2018It\u2019s like the opera house and the club had a love child,\u2019 he says.\u201d
\n\u2014 San Francisco Examiner<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cBates is one of the most-performed living composers of orchestral music, and part of that comes from his emphasis on storytelling and theatricality.\u201d
\n\u2014 San Francisco Classical Voice<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cMason Bates, whose music freely embraces classical forms and electronic sounds, may have been the perfect choice to compose the music, weaving it all together with the sort of fluidity and simplicity that Jobs himself championed in the creations he fostered.\u201d
\n\u2014 Seen and Heard International<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cEnergy of the composer reacts to that of his subject to create something theatrically arresting & new.\u201d \u2014 Wall Street Journal \u201c…Bates\u2019 musical setting… brilliantly captures all the implacable ambiguity and thrilling creative energy of the event.\u201d \u2014 The San Francisco Chronicle \u201cThe opera, which is having its world premiere at the Santa Fe Opera … Continued<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":10272,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[5069,4256,4317,3705,7399],"class_list":["post-15864","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-acclaim","tag-composer","tag-mason-bates","tag-opera","tag-revolution-of-steve-jobs"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.opus3artists.com\/api\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15864","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.opus3artists.com\/api\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.opus3artists.com\/api\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.opus3artists.com\/api\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.opus3artists.com\/api\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15864"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.opus3artists.com\/api\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15864\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":15868,"href":"https:\/\/www.opus3artists.com\/api\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15864\/revisions\/15868"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.opus3artists.com\/api\/wp\/v2\/media\/10272"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.opus3artists.com\/api\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15864"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.opus3artists.com\/api\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15864"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.opus3artists.com\/api\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15864"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}