Steve Jobs, co-founder and former CEO of Apple Inc., is once again in the spotlight. Since his death in 2011, he has already been the subject of several biographies, documentaries, two feature films and a graphic novel. And now, Steve Jobs will become the central character to a new opera. To be performed by Santa Fe Opera in 2017, The (R)evolution of Steve Jobs will be composed by Mason Bates, directed by Kevin Newbury, with the libretto penned by Mark Campbell. Charles MacKay, general director of Santa Fe Opera, said in a statement, ‘we are delighted to take this journey into the life and legacy of a distinctly American figure through the creative genius of Mason Bates and Mark Campbell’.
The opera will explore various areas of the Apple co-founder's life, from inspirations such as his father Paul and the art of Zen Buddhism, through his successes and failures in business, to romantic involvements. The company seeks to produce ‘a production as innovative as the man himself’, featuring a ‘kinetic electroacoustic score, lush vocal writing, [and] a compelling non-linear narrative’.
Mason Bates, recently named the second-most performed living composer in the US, holds the position of composer-in-residence with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. Mark Campbell has written fifteen librettos, among them the opera Silent Night, which received the Pulitzer Prize in Music.
The (R)evolution of Steve Jobs will receive its first workshop in September this year, in collaboration with Cal Performances at UC Berkeley and with additional support from San Francisco Conservatory of Music.