Visitor Info
2012 FESTIVAL
An Opera in Four Acts
BY ROBERT WILSON - PHILIP GLASS
Choreography by Lucinda Childs
NORTH AMERICAN PREMIERE
June 8-10, 2012
Sony Centre for the Performing Arts, Toronto, Ontario
Einstein on the Beach is a five hour opera/theatre performance that was first performed in 1976 at the Festival d'Avignon in France, followed by a European tour that summer, culminating, in the fall of the same year, in a presentation at the Metropolitan Opera in New York. Widely credited as one of the most important artistic achievements of the 20th century, this rarely performed piece raised its director, Robert Wilson, composer, Philip Glass, and choreographer Lucinda Childs, to international stature, and remains one of their greatest masterpieces.
The opera juxtaposes the world of science with that of everyday existence, as seen in the life of Albert Einstein. It portrays modern inventions and technology, while addressing classic conflicts of mankind, and uses a series of powerful recurrent images as its main theatrical device. The opera is structured in four interconnected acts and is divided by a series of short scenes or "knee plays." There are no traditional intermissions. Instead, the audience is invited to wander in and out at liberty during the performance.
In 2012, nearly four decades after it was first performed and 20 years since its last production, Einstein on the Beach will be reconstructed for a major international tour, including the first performances in the United Kingdom and the first North American presentations ever held outside of New York City, including this tour's North American premiere in Toronto.
Tickets for the Toronto run (June 8-10, 2012) of Einstein on the Beach will go on sale in 2012. Sign up to receive early information about ticket sale opportunities here through Luminato's email list.
Einstein on the Beach will be produced by Pomegranate Arts, Inc., and was commissioned by: Luminato, Toronto Festival of Arts and Creativity; BAM; the Barbican, London; Cal Performances University of California, Berkeley; De Nederlandse Opera/The Amsterdam Music Theatre; Opéra et Orchestre National de Montpellier Languedoc-Rousillon; University Musical Society of the University of Michigan.