Deconstructing the first grand opera

Abstract

Giacomo Meyerbeer's 1872 Opera Robert Le diable is considered by some to be the first grand opera. Deconstructing the first grand opera extracts piano accompaniment fragments from the Ballet of the nun's scene within this opera and reassembles them to create something new. In this performance the solo piano holds the main sound fragments and around the performer 8-11 wireless speakers play an out of sync version of the new deconstructed piano sound controlled via individual mobile phones. As the new sound on each speaker moves around the performance space it constantly overlaps and collides with different versions of itself in counterpoint to the solo piano sound modifying the sound space an..