A House in Bali October 8, 2010

The hypnotic sounds of a 16-member Balinese gamelan intertwine with Western opera and Balinese singers, traditional dance, live video feeds, and the pulsating post-minimalism of the Bang on a Can All-Stars in A House in Bali, an innovative new opera by Evan Ziporyn, directed by Jay Scheib and presented by Bang on a Can.

Based on the memoirs of trailblazing composer Colin McPhee, the work re-imagines first contact between cultures in 1930s Bali through the prism of the cross-cultural present. This mixed-media performance follows the course of McPhee's sojourn to Bali, his encounters with anthropologist Margaret Mead and painter Walter Spies, and their ultimately tragic relationship with dancer I Sampih, a Balinese youth whom McPhee mentors after the boy saves his life. Images from 1930s photographs - many by Mead herself - and music of the period - from Bali and from McPhee's own hand - merge with live re-creations and (dis)simulations in this bold study of artifice, connection, and alienation, set at the crossroads of the cultural and the personal.

Featuring Bang on a Can All-Stars, Gamelan Salukat with Dewa Ketut Alit, Peter Tantsits, Kadek Dewi Aryani, Desak Madé Suarti Laksmi, I Nyoman Catra, Timur Bekbosunov, Anne Harley, Nyoman Triyana Usadhi; Choreography by Kadek Dewi Aryani and I Nyoman Catra; Set design by Sara Brown; Costume design by Oana Botez-Ban; Lighting design by Peter Ksander; Sound design by Andrew Cotton; Video design by Jay Scheib and AKA