LIVE PERFORMANCE FILM (2021) 20 MINUTES.

CREATED FOR CATAPULT OPERA.

PROCESS AND CONTEXT BY MARCUS SHIELDS

We began thinking of creating a commission in April after we canceled our upcoming season. At that point, it was unclear how long the performing arts closure would last. Across the internet, artists were posting videos of home concerts and Zoom collaborations. Early pandemic content was hyper personal. It was also very homemade. We didn’t immediately know what to do, but we observed tremendous creative energy and felt inspired to contribute.

When Neal and I began discussing composers, Neal immediately thought of Nico (Muhly). Nico immediately thought of Greg (Pierce). And Greg had already been thinking about creating a project based on a news event from 2015.

THE OPERA
The Glitch is a one act opera that lasts about 19 minutes. It depicts a conversation between Joyce Mitchell and her husband Lyle following a traumatic moment in their lives. It is a construction of a conversation that might have taken place. It is raw and personal and about the capacity to endure through pain.

CASTING

Here is Neal Goren on the casting of The Glitch:

When Nico suggested Krysty Swann as a possible Tilly, I jumped at the chance. I have known and loved her voice since hearing her perform when she was a grad student at MSM. Lester Lynch I have known since the early days of Gotham Chamber Opera, when I offered him a leading role which he was unable to accept because of a prior high-status commitment. I have wanted to collaborate with him since, and I thought that The Glitch would be the perfect opportunity to make music with these brilliant artists. I am delighted to present Ms. Swann and Mr. Lynch as the first singers in Catapult Opera’s commissioning series.

As soon as they were cast, Lester and Krysty helped shape the writing process. Their voices influenced the vocal lines and their questions clarified the drama.

At a similar time, the excellent pianist Adam Tendler joined the team.

RECORDING

Here is a list of our locations throughout this process:

Neal: NYC
Adam: Brooklyn
Krysty: NYC
Lester: Ohio
Marcus: California/New Hampshire
Nico: NYC/elsewhere
Greg: NY state

RECORDING THE PIANO
In large part, we had a distanced process. After Nico completed the score, each artist had three weeks to absorb the music. Our first step was to break the score up into three minute chunks and record Neal conducting each section. Those videos were then sent to Adam to reference as he recorded the piano part. Once recorded, I synced the piano part with Neal’s conducting to use as the foundation of the recording.

However, after multiple attempts, we determined that this order of operations was inorganic. It felt counterintuitive to record the piano without rehearsing with the singers. Vocalism is difficult to quantize and breath creates shape. In a live rehearsal, musicians can quickly connect to one another but without the ability to meet in person, we had to find an imperfect substitute.

Neal, who teaches at Mannes, was learning the software Jam Kazam. Like other low latency software, Jam Kazam promises a solution to distanced collaboration. It requires a stable internet connection and is best when users are geographically close. For us, it facilitated two things: the ability to rehearse in real time, and a way to record the piano part without pre-recorded conducting. Though it wasn't perfect, the live collaboration moved us forward and produced a piano track that supported the singers. Neal conducted in Washington Heights and Adam played and recorded in Brooklyn.

RECORDING THE SINGERS
The initial idea was to have Lester and Krysty record themselves from home. After an attempt or two, we decided that wasn’t feasible. Mostly because the music is difficult, engineering is difficult, and it is an exercise in madness to record an intimate conversation without a scene partner to converse with.

By a stroke of good luck, Lester happened to be traveling to NYC so we decided to try recording in person. We found a time over a long weekend and rented a blackbox theater at the HERE arts center in downtown NYC. We used three cameras, one ipad, one computer, a few lights, and one PA system for capture. Neal conducted on the computer and iPad and Adam played over the PA system. We had 6 hours to record the entire piece.