LA Opera announces digital world premiere of "Modulation," a user-led musical and visual experience, in collaboration with Prototype Festival


Featuring new commissions from 13 composers the user-led musical and visual experience will stream from January 8 through 16, 2021 

(Los Angeles) December 10, 2020 – Beginning on January 8, 2021, LA Opera will co-present Modulation, a user-led digital experience featuring new commissions from 13 contemporary composers, produced in collaboration with the Prototype Festival.

Modulation is a groundbreaking exploration of how opera and theater can adapt to the digital format. The piece puts audience members in control, allowing them to navigate virtually through a landscape of new musical pieces exploring themes of isolation, identity and fear, each with its own visual component. The three- to five-minute pieces that make up Modulation were created by 13 of the most provocative and diverse voices in the contemporary music idiom, along with their collaborators.

The composers commissioned to contribute to Modulation are Jojo Abot, Sahba Aminikia, Juhi Bansal, Raven Chacon, Carmina Escobar, Yvette Janine Jackson, Molly Joyce, Jimmy López Bellido, Angélica Negrón, Paul Pinto, Daniel Bernard Roumain, Joel Thompson and Bora Yoon. The site concept and design were created by Imaginary Places.

Modulation will stream online from January 8 through 16, 2021, with digital tickets available for $25. Tickets will be available on the LA Opera website at LAOpera.org/Modulation.

"Opera is a multifaceted reflection of the human experience, and the themes expressed in Modulation could not be more relevant to the issues we face during the COVID era," said Christopher Koelsch, LA Opera's Sebastian Paul and Marybelle Musco President and CEO. "As we await the resumption of our traditional operations, a collaborative project like this bears testament to the passionate determination and creative inspiration of artists to overcome countless impediments to restore the transcendent beauty, joy and catharsis that only opera can provide."

About the Prototype Festival
The pioneering festival is a co-production of Beth Morrison Projects and Here, two trailblazers in the creation and presentation of contemporary, multi-disciplinary opera-theater and music-theater works. The festival, the only one of its kind in New York City, is a model now emulated around the country: producing and presenting a wide spectrum of works, from intimate black-box experiences to larger chamber opera productions, valuing artistic, curatorial, and producorial risk-taking. Learn more at prototypefestival.org.

About LA Opera On Now
LA Opera was the first major American opera company to create a weekly schedule of original new online programming to bring opera to audiences during the coronavirus crisis. As the company awaits its cue to return to the stage with world-class productions in theaters, it is offering a multitude of online content including newly commissioned performances, live recitals, opera broadcasts and learning opportunities via its LA Opera On Now digital offerings, which have accumulated over 787,000 views since its launch on March 17, 2020. 

About LA Opera
Los Angeles is a city of enormous diversity and creativity, and LA Opera is dedicated to reflecting that vibrancy by redefining what opera can be with thrilling performances, thought-provoking productions and innovative programming. The communal and curative power of opera is needed now more than ever before, given the extraordinary challenges of the time. The company is grateful to its supporters for helping to ensure that it has the resources needed to get through this unprecedented period through the LA Opera Relief Fund. Those wanting to support LA Opera can visit LAOpera.org/donate.

LA Opera Media Contact
Vanessa Flores Waite
Director of Communications
vwaite@laopera.org 
213.972.7554

Generous support for Modulation comes from a consortium of donors to LA Opera’s Contemporary Opera Initiative, chaired by Barry and Nancy Sanders. 

Commissioned, developed and produced by Prototype: Opera | Theatre | Now

Co-presented with Prototype, Carolina Performing Arts, and Opera Omaha.

LA Opera is a non-profit organization dedicated to serving the greater Los Angeles community.