Intrigued by John Zorn and Stephen Schwartz

Has anyone seen the set of concerts of music by John Zorn and Stephen Schwartz—and their new operas La Machine de l’être and Séance on a Wet Afternoon at New York City Opera? Except for Breitbart's short and dismissive description, I had seen only press releases about the music.


For example, the New York Times produced a super piece of expectation, but not a follow-up review that I can find. Similarly, the Wall Street Journal printed an in-depth interview. Even the respected blog Sequenza /21 produced a blurb about the Masada marathon and the Schwartz opera, but failed to attend and review. Barry Singer wrote a long piece based on his interviews of the NYCO impressarii on the need for monodrama to reach today's opera audience.

Until the New York Times published Tomassini's insightful and evocative review. And this interesting description by composer Drew Baker—it's a plus-plus that he includes a YouTube video interview. And this review by Bruce Hodges with superb stills of the productions. And though Paddy Johnson acknowledges he knows nothing about opera, he provides us with two intriguing photos. Finally, I found a terse, supportive piece of a review in Opera Today.