State of the Union: The Opera of Economic Inequality and Obliviousness
2015 Rabbit Island residents – acclaimed Juilliard-trained composer Eugene Birman and librettist Scott Diel – have turned their attention to everything that ails the planet. State of the Union, a choral opera for 12 voices, premiered by the Helsinki Chamber Choir in Marquette, Michigan, on September 29th, 2016. The program also featured a selection of traditional Finnish classics composed by Sibelius, Rautavaara, Kuula and Bergman. Following the premier, State of the Union toured northern Michigan for one week. A final performance was given in New York City on October 6th at Wall Street’s Trinity Church.
The Helsinki Chamber Choir is one of Europe’s leading professional choirs, particularly renowned for its performances of contemporary music. The choir has been described by composer Jonathan Harvey as “probably the best choir anywhere in the world…” This tour will mark the choir’s first performance on in the United States.
State of the Union is four characters—the environment, the rich, the middle class, and the poor—meeting and interacting over seven movements. In the span of 40 minutes, the work considers environmental sustainability, economic inequality, and the general obliviousness of society. Part opera seria, part satire, the opera condemns no one and everyone, yet still doles out redemption in a thrilling finale for all those open to it.
Birman and Diel’s work is notable because it pushes the genre of classical music and also advances the medium to underscore new subject matter: humanity’s relationship to its natural environment in the context of modern society. It was created almost entirely during the duo’s residency on Rabbit Island in June and July, 2015.
State of the Union performances and its tour was brought to life thanks to generous support from the Rabbit Island Foundation, Northern Michigan University’s DeVos Art Museum, and the Beaumier U.P. Heritage Center. Additional support provided by the NMU Provost’s Office and Department of Music/Siril Endowment, Michigan Council for the Arts and Cultural Affairs, Finlandia Foundation International, Finnish Cultural Foundation and City of Helsinki Cultural Office.
2016 Performances
29 September: Forest Roberts Theatre, Northern Michigan University campus, Marquette, Michigan.
30 September: Forest Roberts Theatre, Northern Michigan University campus, Marquette, Michigan.
1 October:Interlochen Center for the Arts, Interlochen, Michigan. Performance video.
2 October: Rozsa Center, Michigan Technological University, Houghton, Michigan.
4 October: Arts Center, Lake Superior State University, Sault Ste Marie, Michigan.
6 October: Trinity Church Wall Street, New York City, 6pm. Performance video.
Eugene's bio" composer of music of “high drama” and “intense emotion” (BBC), “at once, ingenious, hypnotic, brave, and beautiful” (Festival Internazionale A.F. Lavagnino), Eugene Birman (b. 1987) has written for symphony orchestras (Berliner Philharmoniker, London Philharmonic, Minnesota Orchestra, Philharmonia Orchestra, Orquestra Gulbenkian), choirs (Theatre of Voices, BBC Singers, Latvian Radio Choir), and leading ensembles and soloists (Maxim Vengerov, Maurizio Ben Omar, etc.) across four continents in venues ranging from London’s Southbank Centre to Carnegie Hall to above the Arctic Circle. His highly public career, with appearances on CNN, BBC World TV, Radio France, Deutsche Welle, and others, is characterized by a fearless focus on socially relevant large-scale compositions covering the financial crisis, Russian border treaties, and more. Commissioners and partners for Birman’s work extend beyond the concert hall to major international bodies such as the European Union, the Austrian Foreign Ministry, and the Hong Kong SAR, as well as through prominent fellowships from the John Simon Guggenheim Foundation (2018) and the US Department of State’s Fulbright Program (2010-11). Most recently, he was awarded the 2017 Royal Philharmonic Society Composition Prize, leading to a season-long residency at the Southbank Centre and world premiere with the Philharmonia Orchestra at Royal Festival Hall, and appointed the sole Artist-in-Residence of the 2018 Helsinki Festival, Finland’s biggest yearly cultural event. In 2021, he takes up the position of Artist-in-Residence at the Manchester International Festival. A D.Phil recipient from the University of Oxford, he also holds degrees from Columbia University, the Juilliard School, and the Accademia Musicale Chigiana.
Scott's bio: Author, editor, librettist, former bookstore owner, above-average fly fisherman.
“The machine has won,” some have concluded after witnessing the construction of the American interstate highway system, coupled with vast concrete intersections that rise to the heavens. Yet these structures are being dismantled in many places, and a more human-friendly environment is sometimes the result of re-thinking the way we interact as human beings in an urban space. Our project will examine such a possibility in a musical space. The resulting piece of music, which will constitute an extended 40-minute one act opera, will focus not on mythological monsters but on how the very real issues facing the world could inspire people to re-consider their role in their urban environment and the world around them, though the piece will not be overtly utopian. Much like the outmoded machine must be destroyed to form closer bonds of communication in the real, urban world, our opera must first destroy the “deus ex machina” that is so essential to dramatic denouement in the operatic world.
Thus our project will not only challenge audiences to consider their role in an urban society and how to improve it on an individual scale, but essentially all of the existing rules of opera as well.
A residency at Rabbit Island would enable us to complete a full-length opera within three months of the residency’s conclusion. During our stay, we would make meaningful progress on the piece and use the incredible natural surroundings to influence and focus the material to create a piece that reflects both the urban environment we have left behind, and its essential antithesis in the serenity and isolation of the residency itself.
Supporting Texts and Background
+ Introducing SOTU, by Rob Gorski
+ State of the Union: A Listener’s Guide, by Scott Diel
+ Calling Dr. Glowacki: Saving Opera from Itself, by Scott Diel
+ SOTU libretto, by Scott Diel
+ SOTU score, by Eugene Birman
+ Opera: Relevant or Outdated?, Interlochen Public Radio
+ ‘Occupy Opera’ to play on Wall Street, Estonian Public Broadcasting
