Music by John Cage

Gem Theatre
Detroit Opera
Detroit, Michigan
March 8-10, 2024

Director: Yuval Sharon
Production Designer: Moníka Essen
Lighting Designer: Yuki Nakase Link
Associate Director: Alexander Gedeon

Whereas John Cage’s first opera, Europeras 1 & 2, attempted to replicate the spectacle of grand opera through the collage-like lens of indeterminacy, Europeras 3 & 4 saw the composer explore the genre on a much smaller scale—though no less idiosyncratically. Europera 3, composed for a relatively restrained ensemble of six singers, two pianos, six gramophones, tape, and lighting, takes on the appearance of a chamber opera. Europera 4 dials the scale back further, with its forces of two singers, one piano, one gramophone, and table lamp evoking a song recital.

In a reflection of this intimate setting—and in order to advance Detroit Opera’s mission to bring opera out of the opera house and into the Detroit community—Yuval Sharon elected to stage Europeras 3 & 4 in the cabaret-like Gem Theatre, the first live theatrical performances at the historic venue in nearly twelve years. Like the other compositions in the series, Europeras 3 & 4 call for music to be dictated by chance, and sets, props, and costumes to be procured from the presenting company’s archives. The result was an unrepeatable living artwork composed of familiar, interwoven arias and musical cues, juxtaposed against one another in new musical and visual contexts that invited audience members to find as much—or as little—meaning as they desired.

Photography by Austin Richey courtesy of Detroit Opera.