Monsters of Grace - A digital opera in three dimensions for ensemble and soloists (1997)
With their trailblazing 1976 production of Einstein on the Beach, Philip Glass and Robert Wilson became internationally known as leading creators of new music theater. Orange Mountain is thrilled to present the long-awaited CD release of their latest collaboration, the 1997 Monsters of Grace, for which Robert Wilson designed the animated 3-D visuals and staging. Vividly performed by the Philip Glass Ensemble and guest vocalists, the transcendent score marries exotic sounds of our time with the poetry of 13th-century Sufi mystic, Jelaluddin Rumi (sung in an English translation), to create an unforgettable theatrical experience.
Over the last three years , Bob Wilson and I have been meeting to work on a new theater piece, Monsters of Grace. Since Einstein on the Beach in 76, we have come together on several occasions to make new work, but unlike those projects, with this present work, we have had a real opportunity to sit together and engage in a new world of ideas. Of course inage, music and structure are at the root of what we are thinking. We are, moreover, addressing a challange of a new technology and it's impact of a developing artistic view. It is fair to say that as an on going process, it is still fluid, elusive, and for us, full of surprise.— Philip Glass, 1997 |