Awarded the 2019 Grammy Award for Best Opera, The (R)evolution of Steve Jobs is a kinetic and soulful exploration of an iconic figure of our time. The opera exists at the intersection of creativity, technology, communication—and, ultimately, the tragedy. Animated by an electro-acoustic soundworld and a non-linear libretto, the opera journeys through the key scenes of Jobs’ life and his early death. Both charismatic and cold-hearted, Steve acts as both protagonist and antagonist in a story that is also propelled by the key people of his life: his wife Laureen; his Buddhist mentor Kōbun Chino Otogawa; Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak; and Chrisann Brennan, the mother of his disowned daughter. This intimate cast is supplemented by a small chorus of representing techies, students, reporters, and guests.
The opera sold out its initial run at Santa Fe Opera, adding an extra performance to accommodate the huge demand for tickets. The subsequent album release on Pentatone Records earned a Grammy in 2019. Following performances of the original production by Seattle Opera, San Francisco Opera and Indiana University, 2022 sees a new production from Tomer Zvulun of The Atlanta Opera, co-produced by Austin Opera and Lyric Opera of Kansas City, also heading to the Utah Symphony, Calgary Opera and beyond.
INSTRUMENTATION
original version: 27 + 33 strings
reduced version: 25 + 24 strings
Preferred conductor is Michael Christie – contact information upon request.
2 flutes (both double picc, 2nd doubles A. Fl.)
2 oboes (reduced version: 1 oboe)
2 Bb clarinets (reduced version: 1 Bb Clarinet)
2 alto saxophones
2 bassoons
4 horns in F
3 C trumpets (reduced version: 2 trumpets)
2 tenor trombone
1 bass trombone
synthesizer *
timpani & 3 percussion
harp
piano / celesta
acoustic guitar **
strings (min. 10.8.6.6.3 – reduced version: 7.6.5.4.2)
* Synthesizer: Rather than playing a traditional keyboard part, the synthesizer part in this opera primarily involves triggering samples and beats. While no technical expertise is required, the player needs to be highly precise and have some familiarity working with beats. Recommended players are Ryn Jorgensen (rynjorgensen@gmail.com) and Faith Debow (fd11@txstate.edu).
** Guitar: This soloist-level part requires a player who is comfortable playing steel strings in a flat-picking style, with significant experience playing under a conductor. To avoid having to replace a player at the last minute, it is highly recommended that the following players are considered: Douglas L Stefaniak (douglasstefaniak@utexas.edu) and James Moore (james.ernest.moore@gmail.com).
TAKE A LISTEN
THE OPERA
The (R)evolution of Steve Jobs is an opera in one act, with music by Mason Bates and libretto by Mark Campbell. The opera was commissioned by the world-renowned Santa Fe Opera in collaboration with Seattle Opera, San Francisco Opera, The Jacobs School of Music at Indiana University with support from Cal Performances.
The (R)evolution of Steve Jobs follows the visionary Apple co-founder as he looks back on his life and career and confronts his own mortality. The opera is described as taking place “at a moment in Jobs’ life when he must face his own mortality and circles back to the events and people in his past that shaped and inspired him: his father Paul, Zen Buddhism, his relationship with a woman whose child he initially disowned, his quick rise and fall as a mogul, and – most importantly – his wife Laurene, who showed him the power of love and connection.”
CAST LIST
Steve Jobs (baritone)
Laurene Powell Jobs (mezzo-soprano): Steve’s wife
Kōbun Chino Otogawa (bass): Steve’s spiritual advisor
Steve (“Woz”) Wozniak (tenor): Apple co-founder & Steve’s friend
Chrisann Brennan (lyric coloratura): Steve’s former girlfriend
Paul Jobs (lyric baritone): Steve’s father
Teacher (soprano): Calligraphy teacher at Reed College
Young Steve (non-singing role): Steve at ten years old
Ensemble of 11-16 or Small Chorus: reporters, students, co-workers, wedding and memorial service guests, etc.
SET
The initial set is a garage adjoining a suburban home in Los Altos, California four walls (back and front) of that garage break into screens for projections, reconfigured in different scenes to represent the stage of a convention center, a classroom, an office space, a Sōtō Zen Buddhism center, etc. Other portable screens may be added as needed to project images of a sky, the ensō, advertising, calligraphy, an apple orchard and field, email message tributes, etc. At stage left, there is a small bench that can accommodate four people at a time (similar to the jiutai-za in Noh theatre).
Production note: Steve should never leave the stage; we are in his mind, and his memories — the world must come to him.
Duration: 100 minutes (20 scenes in one act)
SYNOPSIS
PROLOGUE
1965: The Jobs family garage, Los Altos
Paul Jobs presents his son Steve with a workbench as a birthday present and calls it “a fine place to start.”
SCENE 1
2007: The stage of a convention center, San Francisco
An adult Steve Jobs delivers a public launch of his company’s new product—“one device”—that will revolutionize technology. He ends his pitch noticeably weak and short of breath.
SCENE 2
2007, directly after: Corporate offices, Cupertino
Steve retreats to his office. His wife Laurene chides him for not taking better care of himself and losing himself in his work. She asks him to return home.
SCENE 3
2007, later that afternoon: The hills around Cupertino
Steve goes on a long meditative walk. He encounters Kōbun Chino Otogawa, Steve’s former spiritual mentor in Sōtō Zen Buddhism, who died five years before. Steve remembers something he once said: “You can’t connect the dots going forward. You can only connect them going backward.” As they gaze at the sunset, Kōbun prompts Steve to acknowledge his mortality.
SCENE 4
1973: A class in calligraphy, Reed College, Oregon
A teacher discusses the significance of the ensō, a circle drawn in Japanese calligraphy. Steve is inspired by the aesthetic ideas of elegance and simplicity.
SCENE 5
1973: The garage of the Jobs family home, Los Altos
Steve’s best friend Steve Wozniak has created a “blue box,” a device that allows the user to make free telephone calls. Steve and “Woz” celebrate the ease with which they think corporate giants can be toppled.
SCENE 6
1974: An apple orchard near Los Altos
Steve and his girlfriend Chrisann take LSD. Steve imagines their surroundings coming to life as an orchestra, playing Bach. The two start to make love when Kōbun interrupts them.
SCENE 7
2007: The hills around Cupertino
1975: Los Altos Zen Center
Kōbun informs Steve that he cannot live at the Zen Center and hints that his destiny may lie elsewhere.
SCENE 8
1989: A lecture Hall, Stanford University
Steve meets Laurene for the first time.
SCENE 9
1976: The garage of the Jobs family home, Los Altos
Woz presents a new computer interface to Steve. Chrisann arrives and tells Steve that she is pregnant. When Steve demands that Chrisann end the pregnancy, she leaves in tears. Steve and Woz dream about the future of their invention, Steve remembering the orchestra in the orchard playing Bach and imagining the computer as “something we play.”
SCENE 10
1989: Steve Jobs’ home, Palo Alto
Steve shows Laurene his sparsely furnished home. Photographs by Ansel Adams in Steve’s home prompt a brief discussion about artistic inspiration. Laurene and Steve go to the bedroom to make love for the first time.
SCENE 11
1980: Corporate Offices, Cupertino
Steve severs ties with Chrisann and angers Woz by denying a fellow employee his pension. Chrisann and Woz lament the loss of the Steve they once knew. 26 27
SCENE 12
1981-1986: Corporate Offices, Cupertino
Steve denies palimony to Chrisann for their child, Lisa, and offends Woz, who quits. Demoted by the board of directors, Steve bitterly leaves the company and has a breakdown.
SCENE 13
2007: The hills around Cupertino
Kōbun reminds Steve that it was necessary for him to learn from his mistakes. He shows Steve a brief replay of his life after he fell apart, revisiting his first meeting with Laurene and the evening when he fell in love with her.
SCENE 14
2007: The hills around Cupertino 1989: A lecture hall, Stanford University
The day when Steve and Laurene met.
SCENE 15
2007: The hills around Cupertino 1989: Steve Jobs’ home, Palo Alto
The evening in Steve’s home when he fell in love with Laurene. Kōbun reminds Steve that Laurene also helped keep his ego in check.
SCENE 16
2007: Steve Jobs’ home
Steve returns home after his walk to find Laurene waiting for him. She confronts Steve and gets him to accept his illness and mortality.
SCENE 17
1991: Yosemite National Park
Kōbun marries Steve and Laurene in a Buddhist ceremony. Steve expresses his love for Laurene and his gratitude to her for teaching him the value of human connection. Kōbun’s 1992 death is revealed, prompting a meditation on mortality that segues into the next scene.
SCENE 18
2011: Stanford University Chapel
Kōbun explains that Steve is witnessing his own memorial service. Steve protests a few production elements of the service, but Kōbun tells him to be still, to simplify. Laurene and Woz muse about Steve. Finally, Laurene is left alone and observes that while Steve will be both lionized and demonized, no one can deny his influence on the world.
EPILOGUE (FULL CIRCLE)
1965: The garage of the Jobs family home, Los Altos
As Laurene looks on, Paul Jobs presents his son with a workbench on his birthday as “a fine place to start.”
The (R)evolution of Steve Jobs is inspired by the life and creative spirit of Steve Jobs and does not purport to depict actual events as they occurred or statements, beliefs, or opinions of the persons depicted. It has not been authorized or endorsed by Apple Inc., the Estate or Family of Steve Jobs, or by any persons depicted.
THE MAKING OF THE (R)EVOLUTION OF STEVE JOBS
THE ATLANTA OPERA OFFICIAL TRAILER
CRITICAL ACCLAIM
THE CREATIVE TEAM
Mason Bates (Composer)
Composer of the Grammy-winning opera The (R)evolution of Steve Jobs, Mason Bates is imaginatively connecting the worlds of opera, film, orchestras, and DJing. His work spans major venues such as the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, where he was appointed the nation’s first composer-in-residence, to the Metropolitan Opera, which commissioned The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay. Bates has also composed for film, scoring Gus Van Sant’s The Sea of Trees starring Matthew McConaughey and Naomi Watts.
Championed by conductors from Riccardo Muti to Michael Tilson Thomas, his symphonic music is the first to receive widespread acceptance for its unique integration of electronic sounds, and a recent survey named him the 2nd most-performed living composer. His interest in integrating classical music into the digital age has continued with Philharmonia Fantastique: The Making of the Orchestra, an animated film with live orchestra for which he composed the score and served as executive producer. The film will be released in Fall 2022 on Apple TV and can be seen live in concert around the world.
Working in clubs as DJ Masonic, Bates is Artistic Director of Mercury Soul, an organization producing immersive fusions of DJs and classical music in clubs around the country. He serves on the faculty of the San Francisco Conservatory of Music.
Mark Campbell (Librettist)
Mark Campbell’s work as a librettist is at the forefront of the current contemporary opera scene in the United States. The 25 librettos he has written for the operatic stage demonstrate a versatility in subject matter, style, and tone, and an adeptness at creating musical stories that succeed in both large and intimate venues. The names of his collaborators comprise a roster of the most prominent composers in classical music, and include three Pulitzer Prize winners.
Campbell’s best- known work is Silent Night, which received the 2012 Pulitzer Prize in Music and has already entered the standard operatic repertory. Other successful operas include Elizabeth Cree, Some Light Emerges, Dinner at Eight, The Nefarious, Immoral but Highly Profitable Enterprise of Mr. Burke & Mr. Hare, The Shining, Later the Same Evening, Volpone, Bastianello/ Lucrezia, Rappahannock County, The Manchurian Candidate, and As One.
Other awards include a Grammy® nomination, the first Kleban Foundation Award for Lyricist, two Richard Rodgers Awards, a Larson Foundation Award, a NYFA Playwriting Fellowship, the first Dominic J. Pelliciotti Award, and a NYSCA grant.
UPCOMING PERFORMANCES
CALGARY OPERA
UTAH OPERA
SAN FRANCISCO OPERA
