They’ve performed in cars, throughout a train station and via an air raid siren, and now L.A.’s most adventurous opera company is headed to a mountaintop observatory a mile above the city.
The Industry will stage the world premiere of Star Choir inside the 100-inch telescope dome at Mount Wilson Observatory this fall. Described as “an interstellar chamber opera,” the two-day-only piece is co-directed by Malik Gaines and Alexandro Segade and is composed by Gaines with libretto by Segade.
The story centers around a starship crew seeking refuge on a hostile planet, encountering intelligent life and evolving to become part of a world-spanning multi-spieces organism—you know, just your average tale about coexistence and colonization that takes cues from Alien, Octavia E. Butler and Neon Genesis Evangelion and wraps it all up in an operetta that mashes up psychedelic jazz and space disco.
The performances, which take place on September 30 and October 1, will feature eight singers and a six-person orchestra, plus some choreography and video elements to set the scene inside the century-old observatory. Tickets are on sale now.