OPERA: SITE is a new collaborative operatic work, commissioned by Roulette with funds from the New York State Council on the Arts. It portrays the rich sonic environment of New York City as well as people related to the city and its organisms. The new work shows the rich sonic environment of New York City as well as people related to the city and its organisms. OPERA: SITE, contains a new type of score and notation system derived from audio samples collected from across the boroughs, as well as sonic sculptures and new instruments. OPERA: SITE also exposes the queer body and provides space to be connected with other people through sound. Vítková hopes the piece can inspire people to notice themselves in their environment and find a new relationship with it.
“During my time as a composer, performer, and improviser, I have been developing my relationship to opera as a programmatic piece embodied by singers as well as exploring the related meaning of the word opera, operare, in the sense of doing, making, performing, or working. My previous opera had a striking review by Lucy Caplan in the San Francisco Classical Voice called Don’t Expect Conventional Arias at This OPERA: Vítková’s sound world might be described as music turned inside out. Through sounds both strange and unremarkable, they put the seams of music-making on full display. You hear the stuff in the nooks and crannies rather than the glossy facade.” —Lucie Vítková