World premiere of Tod Machover's 'Overstory Overture'

On March 7, Joyce DiDonato stars in the world premiere of Tod Machover’s Overstory Overture at Lincoln Center’s Alice Tully Hall. A 35-minute dramatic piece for mezzo-soprano, string orchestra, and electronics, Ms. DiDonato will star as Patricia Westerford, joined by the internationally renowned chamber orchestra Sejong Soloists, which commissioned the work and conducted by Earl Lee, Assistant Conductor of the Boston Symphony Orchestra.

MIT Media Lab composer Tod Machover’s work, Overstory Overture, is the first glimpse of Machover’s next opera, The Overstory, based on Richard Powers’ Pulitzer-Prize-winning novel of the same name. The narrative focuses on the character of Patricia Westerford, a scientist who discovers the powerful communication network of trees that suggests an entirely new relationship between the human and the nonhuman.

On March 16, the piece will have its second performance in Seoul, South Korea. Learn more about the work via MIT News.

Photo: Sergi Jasanada