title: Switch: A Science-Fiction Micro-Opera
instrumentation: singing cellist (range: Gb3 to D5), flute, violin, percussion, electronics
duration: 18 minutes
written in: 2013
text: Alex Temple
In June of 2013, engineer Sylvia Wald and I completed work on an experimental device that could capture audio signals from parallel universes. By some extraordinary luck, the first thing we heard was recognizably human in origin. In fact, it was a theatrical performance — in English! — that revealed quite a bit about the conditions in which it was produced. In that universe, it seems, people are forced into strict social roles based on whether they’re right- or left-handed. The performance told the story of a group of dissidents who founded a utopian community called the Free Zone, only to find themselves targeted by a violent right-wing dictatorship.
Unfortunately, the machine overheated after only fifteen minutes, and the recording was destroyed in the resulting fire. The schematics for the machine were also lost, and we were unable to recreate our work. But I did manage to transcribe most of the piece from memory, and I have since arranged it for Cadillac Moon Ensemble‘s surprisingly similar instrumentation. The result is as close as we have come to a direct dispatch from another Earth, whose history took a very different course from our own.
(Read more in Cadillac Moon’s interview with me. Includes spoilers!)
(You can also check out the libretto if you’re so inclined.)
Listen
Cadillac Moon Ensemble
Meaghan Burke, voice and cello
Roberta Michel, flutes
Patti Kilroy, violin
Sean Statser, percussion
Live at Mansfield University, Mansfield, PA, 3.10.14
Recorded by Andrew Walters
Download mp3s
See the score
List of sound sources
This recording of Switch: A Science-Fiction-Micro-Opera is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial Share-Alike license. This means that you can
a) share it, and
b) sample, remix or otherwise transform it
as long as you credit Alex Temple as the composer and Cadillac Moon Ensemble (Meaghan Burke, Roberta Michel, Patti Kilroy & Sean Statser) as the performers, don’t use the resulting piece commercially, and license any derivative works under the same terms.
Watch
Cadillac Moon Ensemble
Live at The Cell, New York, NY, 12.20.13
Recorded by Bernd Klug
This recording of Switch: A Science-Fiction-Micro-Opera is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial Share-Alike license. This means that you can
a) share it, and
b) sample, remix or otherwise transform it
as long as you credit Alex Temple as the composer and Cadillac Moon Ensemble (Meaghan Burke, Roberta Michel, Patti Kilroy & Sean Statser) as the performers, don’t use the resulting piece commercially, and license any derivative works under the same terms.