The Conservatory is one of ten sites worldwide to simulcast a groundbreaking opera on February 16 in a special closed screening. Death and the Powers, produced by The Dallas Opera and conducted by Nicole Paiement, the Conservatory's Jean and Josette Deleage Distinguished Chair in New Music, gives a leading role to interactive technology, from mobile apps and sensory set pieces to singing robots. With a libretto by former U.S. Poet Laureate Robert Pinsky and a score by composer/inventor Tod Machover of the MIT Media Lab, Death and the Powers has been called "a grand, rich, deeply serious new opera" by Opera magazine. As artistic director of Opera Parallèle, the Conservatory's professional opera company in residence, Paiement has earned a national reputation for championing contemporary opera. Still, this production is bound to present some new challenges, for example, by empowering audiences in Stockholm to alter events on stage in Dallas by tapping their mobile devices.

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Two eminent faculty composers offer rich and contrasting approaches to twenty first-century composition in a pair of upcoming recitals. Drawing inspiration from poignant verses by Yeats and Rossetti and the tonal palette of Bartók, David Conte presents two sets of songs and his second string quartet. Performers include tenor Brian Thorsett '04, staff pianist Steve Bailey and the alumni ensemble Friction Quartet. Alden Jenks marries the analog and digital worlds in works scored for computer, piano, soprano and actress. His program, including several premieres, features sopranos Lora Libby '13 and Amy Foote '10, and pianists Mikako Endo '92 and Ian Scarfe '10.  

Baritone and San Francisco Opera Center Adler Fellow Efraín Solís '13 tours the Bay Area with the New Century Chamber Orchestra before landing back home at the Conservatory later this month. Solís and two other members of San Francisco Opera's elite young artist program join NCCO for Rita, a rarely-heard comedy by Donizetti, in performances from February 12-16. On February 22, the Conservatory Orchestra features Solís in a performance of Mahler's Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen conducted by music director Scott Sandmeier.  

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