A cartoonesque prequel to Anna’s Rapid Eye Movement (premiered by The Song Company in Sydney Opera House), Mind Over Matter is a chamber opera for 5 singers, speaking piano duet and computer operator, by the Company’s Artistic Director, with theatrical direction by Leonie Cambage. The story is set (not far) in the future: the world has been taken over by a giant computer corporation called BABEL, run by a man known simply as “the Boss”, and, of course, someone is trying to hack into its central computer system. BABEL’s corporate headquarters has 127 floors and just two lifts (with characters of their own). There is a Guard who will not venture off the ground floor, two suspicious characters called Rime and Reezon who carry two identical briefcases, a power-crazy executive who falls in love and then loses her mind, and the heroine Anna herself. The music is inspired by the melodic pop of the 1980s and the program begins and ends with arrangements of some classic hits from Joe Jackson’s Steppin' Out to Wang Chung’s Dance Hall Days.
Joe Jackson Steppin' Out
Antony Pitts Mind Over Matter
Wang Chung Dance Hall Days
Adults $60, Concession $55
VOCALIZATION IS ALL ABOUT THE SOUND AND THE STORY. THE SONG COMPANY OF AUSTRALIA IS THE CONTINENT’S PREMIER VOCAL ENSEMBLE, SINGING MUSIC OF ALL TIMES AND PLACES, STORY-TELLING THROUGH SOUND. From across the continent we come together as The Song Company – to give voice to stories from far and wide – together we are Australia’s premier vocal ensemble.