Frankenstein Opera

Los Angeles Times – Want the West Coast’s best in opera? You have to go to Europe

“We’ve been long overdue for a major “Frankenstein” opera, and this futuristic version filled the bill. A fossil of the monster is found trapped in ice and brought back to life. Thanks to the ability to materialize the monster’s memories, the creature is still capable of wreaking havoc, and the opera becomes a gripping metaphor for the intersection of machine and humanity.

Grey’s use of electronics aurally modernized the old opera house, and his warmly modernist score compassionately accentuated Topi Lehtipuu’s frightening portrayal of a monster discovering the meaning of emotions. This “Frankenstein” illumines the ultimate “outcast”…”

Financial Times – Review

“A visceral roar fills the theatre as the curtain rises. The floor shakes; you feel it in the pit of your stomach. White-clad figures descend on ropes into a vast, icy cavern. Clouds of dry ice gush into the auditorium as a tubular machine, lights flashing, plunges into the abyss, only to rise again, bearing a naked body.”

La Monnaie produce un’opera che ci piacerebbe rivedere in uno stadio pieno di giovan – Fattitaliani

“It forces us to reflect a Frankenstein 2.0 which is narratively appealing, musically fascinating, easy to follow but intelligent, perhaps with the aim of bringing new audiences to opera without traumatizing or displeasing the old…If we want opera to still be vital in a few centuries, alongside the preservation of the tradition, we need to courageously launch completely new creations such as this Frankenstein, works which bring the sensibility of musical and narrative time, and in places and contexts which allow access to a wider number of spectators.”

“Unhold der Flötentöne” – Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung

“Text and music go hand in hand… Júlia Canosa i Serra takes from Mary Shelley’s novel for the libretto, enriching it with new lyrics. The futuristic embedding replaces the epistolary framework. The transhumant dystopia meets the past recounted in retrospective video projections, which, in its cinematic theatrical abundance, impressively takes you into the forest and snowy landscapes.”

“Creature de rêve” – LeVif

“His opera (Mark Grey’s), which launches an aesthetic dice to the public, is a digest of the history of electronic music, often filling the big gap between tradition and avant-garde while maintaining a tonal universe, with superb vocal lines…Through successive flash-backs, the story of Frankenstein rewinds on stage by snatching the memories of the creature (Grand cousu). And this fiction within fiction… is such an artistic UFO that one can wonder if it belongs to the genre “opera”. The site Operawire ranks it among the top ten operas in 2019.”

“Frankenstein, conte très actuel” – Toute la culture

“As contemporary as it is, Mark Grey’s music is never hermetic. It emerges an undeniable power in phase with the story…It sticks to the plot, is strong and sometimes dazzling. Composed in parallel with the work of the other “creators” of this updated Frankenstein, the score envelops everything in osmosis with the libretto and the scenography”.

“Frankenstein: La Fura dels Baus Sublime le Mythe de Mary Shelley” – Le Bruitduoff Tribune

“A wonderful multidisciplinary production, where technique, handled with dexterity, combined with the artistic know-how, leads to an increase of perceptions and sensations. Not to be missed”.

Creation Mondiale de Frankenstein de Mark Greyà La Monnaie: Les nuances de la douleur chronique (Opera Online)

“Rhythm breaks invoke gigantic effects, piercing the melodic heart into thriller projections. Mark Grey writes in musical strata, arranged to the point, soliciting ingenious colors and sensible moods: the very subject creation of the opera, it delivers its facets without exhaustion of resources. Innovation can be found on the set, both in Júlia Canosa’s libretto and in Àlex Ollé’s consistent staging.”

“Il presente e il passato di Frankenstein”- Il giornale della musica

“A new successful Opera, enjoyable from the profane of the work as from the most astute enthusiast, which gives an emotional crescendo, both from a sonic and visual point of view, which fascinates and at the end conquers without exception placing many questions, always current, on the relationship between Creator and Creature, on the acceptance of the Different, between Machine and Man, on the benefits but also on the risks that any experimentation can involve”.

“Impresionante Frankenstein en Bruselas” – El periódico.

“With ‘Frankenstein’, premiered on Friday at La Monnaie / De Munt in Brussels, the stage director Àlex Ollé – La Fura dels Baus -, the composer Mark Gray and the librettist Júlia Canosa have created a subgenre, the ‘sci-fi “opera”, because here the plot is born of futuristic fiction and is not an adaptation of a repertoire opera, the proposal surprises and excites, with an impressive visual apparatus and a top stage direction”.

“It’s still alive ! Frankenstein renaît de la glace à La Monnaie” – Actualités Ôlyrix

“The opera is as vital as its subject, mystical and reflexive: it puts on stage and in the music the question of the modern creation”.

“Et La Monnaie crea Frankenstein” – Le Soir

“Frankenstein is one of those works which demands to take a step back, and while its philosophical and abstract side may still scare an unaccustomed audience, Frankenstein is in any case the kind of approach opera needs.”

“La Creature de Frankenstein enfin libre” – La Libre

“Júlia Canosa’s libretto is excellent, combining dramatic progression and vocality while opening up a thousand scenic possibilities”.

“Silicon Valley meets De Munt” – Operagazet

“We found that Richard Strauss and Richard Wagner were not at light years away, when Grey put down his impressive score…Well, making your own opera, that’s what Gray and Ollé have done. With impressive results. Chapeau!”

“Frankenstein à Bruxelles” – Forum Opéra

“Another critical collaboration is playwright Júlia Canosa i Serra, who has concocted a highly successful libretto, a fairly free adaptation of Mary Shelley’s famous novel that has inspired many others, particularly in the cinema”.

“Frankenstein in De Munt an impressive contemporary opera grown from intense teamwork” – Klara.be

“Composer Mark Gray is not an iconoclast but a great craftsman who gives us a score with many references to 20th-century examples such as Britten, Adams or Bernstein. Electro-acoustic effects get one important part in this opera and provide an enrichment to the score”.

Opera Wire

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FULL PRESS PACKAGE – PREVIEWS as PDF

FULL PRESS PACKAGE – REVIEWS as PDF

Frankenstein Symphony

Review: Frankenstein’s Monster Wakes at Berkeley Symphony, San Francisco Classical Voice, 5/10/16

“Grey’s musical textures captured the Gothic mystery and melancholy of Shelley’s story.”

Review: Berkeley Symphony previews a ‘Frankenstein’ opera, San Francisco Chronicle, 5/6/16

“Like a movie trailer, Grey’s 35-minute orchestral work is assembled out of some of the choice scenes from the full offering, arranged not in narrative order but so as to make things feel all the more alluring. Listening to these selections — which are robust enough to stand on their own, yet still teasingly partial in their dramatic effect — made a cogent argument for the virtues of the opera…Grey’s command of the orchestra is often striking, with ingenious combinations of instrumental color and a dramatic sense of scale that shows off those resources expertly.”

Review: ASO delivers a night of monsters and masters, The Atlanta Journal Constitution, 2/26/16

“Image painting is apparent from the first thunderous chords of the piece, which portray Frankenstein’s reanimation and awakening at the beginning of the opera. Thundering timpani, crashing cymbals and lots of dissonance lay the groundwork for an unsettling, ominous story. Throughout the work, Grey moves from sound to sound, creating impressions and emotions — dread, anticipation, hope.”

Enemy Slayer: A Navajo Oratorio

‘Enemy Slayer’ musically stunning, Deseret News, 5/2/09

“Musically, ‘Enemy Slayer’ is stunning. It moves from breathtakingly beautiful and lush passages to sections that are stringently dissonant, and finally ends peacefully and simply. Yet everything is cohesive and quite seamless. It is a hypnotic work that makes quite an impression on the listener.”

A “Best Classical Release” of Q1 2009, Allmusic.com

“Grey knows the value of a good recording, and percussive effects pack a punch; the recording is big, spacious, and captures all of the details of the orchestration and chorus in spite of the size of the forces involved.”

“From the standpoint of Western music, however, Enemy Slayer is a revelatory and utterly different musical experience in the realm of oratorio — an admirable achievement indeed.”

Colorado Music Festival’s ‘Enemy Slayer’ powerful, Daily Camera, July 2008

“Grey and Navajo librettist Laura Tohe have created a glorious tapestry of sounds and sensations that celebrate both the culture of the Diné people and a more general faith in humanity. Grey’s entirely acoustic music does not indulge in overt ‘modernism,’ and he always seems to have the ears of the audience in mind.”

Enemy Slayer’ explores angst of the returning warrior, Rocky Mountain News, July 2008

“Using a poetic, English-and-Navajo text by Laura Tohe, and augmented by projected images of the Southwest by photographer Deborah O’Grady, Enemy Slayer guides us into a native American society that treats its returning warriors with far greater respect and compassion than most communities in this country.”

“Grey is a promising talent and this work does carry a potent message embracing world peace – and inner peace.”

Denver Post, July 2008:

“On the surface, the oratorio — beautifully performed Friday night by the Colorado Music Festival Orchestra, Phoenix Symphony Chorus and baritone Daniel Belcher — is an absorbing statement on our time of war and its ravaging effect on the human psyche. At its core, however, composer Mark Grey and Navajo librettist Laura Tohe relay a communal journey of salvation and spiritual restoration.

Before a full house at Boulder’s Chautauqua Auditorium, conductor Michael Christie masterfully navigated the work’s progression through the four cardinal directions — East (birth), South (youth), West (adulthood) and North (death).

Belcher shone in his role and delivery of the protagonist, “Seeker,” representing a universal soldier who achieves inner peace by silencing the demons within. Vocally powerful and intuitive, Belcher’s persuasive dramatization of the score further enhanced its ultimately triumphant message of healing and hope.

The fine festival orchestra fully realized the work’s robust — often explosive — instrumentation, even as the chorus carefully shaped its muted phrasings with precise diction and a fitting sensibility.”

Navajo oratorio a triumph in Phoenix, Opera Today, February 2008

“A triumph… an achievement that has all the markings of a Wagnerian Gesamtkunstwerk — a composite work of art that might well prove a major monument of early 21st-century music.”

“The carefully prepared performance of Grey’s lush and loving music brought home just how original the composer is in his understanding of the design of music. He has created here a collage of colors that brings the many voices of soloist, choir and instruments together with near-magical homogeneity.”

Universal truths, ancient wisdom, Navajo Times, February 2008

Enemy Slayer: A Navajo Oratorio reveals deep meaning of creation story — “An experience so moving that some audience members shed tears, and no one was left untouched by its depth of meaning.” 

Premier performance bridges cultures, Navajo Times, February 2008

Oratorio evokes tears of pride, recognition, hope, Navajo Times, February 2008

For videos on the making of Enemy Slayer, visit the Videos page.

AHSHA: Fanfare for Orchestra

Atlanta Symphony review: Runnicles’ emotional Bruckner and a jolly Mozart concerto with Spano, ArtsCriticATL.com, 1/30/11

“The two-and-a-half-minute fanfare opens with low brass and horns in a majestic, perhaps exotic, setting. As the rest of the orchestra joins in, the mood darkens and starts to churn and the soundworld becomes prismatic, begging us to invent visual images.”

Sands of Time

“Bay Area cellist Jeanrenaud, formerly with the Kronos Quartet, has been fruitfully experimenting with cello contexts. Here, she presented two premieres: Mark Grey’s ‘Sands of Time’ blends the live cellist and four prerecorded and processed tracks of her, building a kind of one-person Kronos effect; her own ‘Hommage’ found her gracefully layering varied melodic materials atop real-time- generated loops.” ~Josef Woodard, Los Angeles Times, 3/9/04

TWENTY (part of Shared Madness)

Review: Map of the New: Alan Gilbert’s NY Phil Biennial, The New Yorker, 6/27/16

Review: Jennifer Koh Asks 32 Musicians to Respond to Paganini, The New York Times, 6/1/16

Review: JACK Quartet and Jennifer Koh in the NY Phil Biennial, The New York Times, 5/25/16

Sparrow’s Echo

Review: At Summergarden, a Steamy Evening of Exploratory Sounds, The New York Times, 7/20/15

“The 15-minute piece teems with asymmetrical rhythmic figures, spiraling thematic lines, steady pounding chords and cyclic repetitions of scale patterns.”

Awake the Machine Electric

LA: A Spring 2014 Concertgoer’s Journal, Part 1, New Music Box, 4/16/14

“The two premieres commissioned by the LA Phil New Music Group and conducted by John Adams were more conventional, confident works by composers in their prime. Mark Grey’s Awake the Machine Electric was a bit like a mashup of Annie Gosfield and Tchaikovsky, with industrial sound effects juxtaposed with Romantic-sounding orchestration and thematic ideas.”

Maximum Minimalism at Disney Hall, Sequenza 21, 4/12/14

“This is exciting music, fast-moving and full of energy and the keyboard synthesizer playing of Joanne Pierce Martin was especially alert and effective…After downshifting a few gears, Awake the Machine Electric sped up once more, building a tension that was relieved only by its conclusion. As the applause began the composer was called up to the stage to shake hands with John Adams and tellingly, Mark Grey next reached out to the synthesizer player, as if acknowledging the concertmaster. Awake the Machine Electric is certainly aptly titled.”

The L.A. Phil’s Minimalism marathon, Los Angeles Times, 4/10/14

“Grey’s ‘Machine’ was the result of a trip to Perm, formerly Molotov, Russia. Once a center for Soviet munitions manufacture, it led Grey to the creation of a kind of musical Molotov cocktail, mercurial and madcap. Sometimes Coplandesque pastoral, sometimes chugging Adams-like and sometimes employing old sci-fi electronic sound effects, this is an addictive score ever changing from minute to minute.”

Minimalism to the max in classical music marathon at Disney Hall concert, Orange County Register, 4/10/14

Mugunghwa: Rose of Sharon

Korea night at the Los Angeles Master Chorale, Classical Voice, 3/11/11

“A very special musical event followed intermission, a world premier performance of a work entitled Mugunghwa (Rose of Sharon) by American composer Mark Grey, an inventor of sound whose career must be followed based upon the tremendous success of Mugunghwa, an incipient opera perhaps(?) based on a series of letters and poems written by Namsoo Kim, a Korean who was born in the North, fled to the South, was separated by war from his intended bride and family, spent his life hoping for reunification of the peninsula but ultimately died, not having achieved his dream.”

“The poetry – at least the English translations thereof – was hauntingly beautiful, and spoke to the sad yearning of not only the Korean people, but universally to all people whose lives and destinies are separated by brutal, lethal forces. One felt the powerful emotions as they were sung, a truly enormous achievement for all concerned.”

L.A. Master Chorale sings ‘Stories from Korea’, Los Angeles Times, 3/7/11

“Grey is never short of ideas. His style is broadly (very broadly) post-minimal, and it is not surprising to hear the influence of Adams’ harmonic language. But Grey’s voice is singular and he has found an intricate method with which to incorporate Korean melodic and rhythmic elements into a moody sonic and poetic atmosphere, to tell a story and to keep the listener in a pleasant state of suspended animation.”

A World Premiere for the Los Angeles Master Chorale, ConcertoNet.com, 3/6/11

“Grey’s composition is impressive in its lack of self-awareness. With poems so descriptively dark, it would be easy for a composer to go to the extremes of compositional techniques and stay there, but by only occasionally doing so, Grey creates balanced textures and arcs that stay away from over-the-top expression. Grey’s music is most effective in his understated settings of the ‘Sister’s Letters,’ which were highlighted by beautiful solos sung by Claire Fedoruk and Adriana Manfredi.”

“Grey’s settings of Kim’s poems are often rhythmic and non-linear with voice sections creating a texture by focusing on a key word, at odds with the adjacent section. The piece’s harmonic language is tonal, but not predictable with some much needed moments of fury and dissonance, often provided by the solo instruments in the orchestra. This brings us to the violin solo. To call it such really understates its part in this piece, as the instrument is incredibly busy with concerto-quality lines for over a half hour. Violinist Jennifer Koh, whose personal interest in the music’s subject matter brought her to the piece, played intensely and masterfully. Her tone was edgy and frustrated when necessary, but always beautiful and pleasant. Her virtuosity was stunning.”

LA Master Chorale: Stories from Korea, SoCal.com, March 2011

“The most anticipated event of the evening was the world premiere of Mark Grey’s Mugunghwa: Rose of Sharon featuring violist Jennifer Koh, soprano Claire Fedoruk and mezzo-soprano Adriana Manfredi. Violinist and Korean American Jennifer Koh gave a spirited performance. At times, the aired sounds streaming from her 1727 Stradivari violin resembled the voice of the human spirit full of emotion and passion.”

Elevation, violin concerto

“Undeterred by a steady rain cascading on Boulder ‘s Chautauqua Auditorium, the single-movement work for solo violin and orchestra received a well-executed debut in the competent collaboration of violinist Leila Josefowicz and Michael Christie directing the Colorado Music Festival Chamber Orchestra…The work consists of soaring violin passages that seem to hover above the orchestra. Indeed, the exciting, interactive orchestration sometimes rhythmically embraces, sometimes harmonically repels the violin themes. As in a swell of emotion, the work crescendos until it reaches an absorbing resolution, a sense of unity between violin and orchestra.” ~Sabine Kortals, Special to The Denver Post, 7/10/06

“Headlining the program was the premiere of a one-movement violin concerto by the young pony-tailed composer Mark Grey. With the always-dazzling Leila Josefowicz as soloist, Elevation proved a complex, sometimes thorny, mostly invigorating listening experience. In its 19 minutes, the piece bubbled over with musical and rhythmic ideas, always providing plenty for the soloist to do. This is dense music that is best listened to in an abstract way – as an intriguing journey that unfolds in a fashion that is felt rather than understood. As its title suggests, Elevation spends much of its time in the solo violin’s tricky upper register, which might normally pose problems for a soloist. But our soloist is no normal fiddler. Whether negotiating those stratospheric flights, or a tricky series of double-stops, or plowing through some diabolical arpeggios (not to mention a killer cadenza), Josefowicz made easy work of this virtuoso piece. Which makes sense, since the concerto was dedicated to and, no doubt, inspired by her. She plays with an intensity rivaled only by Nadja Salerno-Sonnenberg – pulling the listener into the music through the sheer force of her onstage personality. This was a tough work to judge on a single hearing. Yet it’s clear that Grey has some original thoughts about composition and is certainly a musical voice deserving of attention.” ~Marc Shulgold, Rocky Mountain News, 7/10/06

“Grey’s violin concerto, ‘Elevation,’ was premiered last month at the Colorado Music Festival, and as the title suggests, it’s a pastoral sort of mountain piece — sweet-toned, airy and bright. The orchestra provides backdrop of lightly scored chords and the violin traipses across them, its knapsack on its back. The resulting trek is a little long, and by the end, I felt as though I had seen all the relevant sights, some more than once. But the effect was invigorating, and Leila Josefowicz — playing from memory, no less! — was a lovely soloist.” ~Joshua Kosman, The San Francisco Chronicle, 8/15/06

Ātash Sorushān (Fire Angels)

Divine Life Force, Please Meet Truth and Existence, The New York Times, 4/1/11

“At Zankel Hall (Jessica Rivera) joined the pianist Molly Morkoski and Ensemble Meme, conducted by Donato Cabrera, for the premiere of ‘Atash Sorushan’ (Fire Angels). Mark Grey wrote the work in honor of the 10-year anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks. Set to a text by the writer and theater artist Niloufar Talebi, this tale of love, connection and transcendence meshes ancient Eastern and modern traditions to relay a story about Mana (the Persian term for divine life force) and Ahsha — an Avestan (East Iranian) term that signifies truth and existence in Zoroastrian theology.”

Jessica Rivera’s Fire Angels, San Francisco Classical Voice, 4/3/11

“It was Grey’s new score that generated the most interest from the audience and elicited the most vivid response from Rivera…Grey’s 20-minute score, fresh from its world premiere at Carnegie Hall, alternates between moments of frenetic activity and otherworldly serenity. It also poses myriad challenges for the vocalist, who sings her elaborate parts in English and Persian, with wide intervals and dynamic extremes over an often-agitated instrumental backdrop. Rivera handled it all with tonal sheen, dramatic urgency, and tremendous poise.”

Left for the Dogs (part of the Violin Futura project)

Gramophone talks to Piotr Szewczyk, violin, Gramophone, July 2016
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Review: Piotr Szewczyk ‘Violin Futura,’ Kathodik, 5/3/16

Review: Violinist and composer Piotr Szewczyk brings his Violin Futura Project to a recording for Navona Records with terrific results, The Classical Reviewer, 4/18/16

Review: Piotr Szewczyk, solo violin – “Violin Futura” – Navona (2 discs), Audiophile Audition, 3/12/16

Review: Violin Futura: 21st Century Solo Violin Project; Piotr Szewczyk, violin, InfoDad.com, 2/11/16

Review: Piotr Szewczyk, Violin Futura, 21st Century Solo Violin Project, Gapplegate, 2/2/16

San Andreas Suite, for solo unaccompanied violin

“Bay Area composer Mark Grey originally wrote the San Andreas Suite, for unaccompanied violin, on guitar – Eddie van Halen was a particular inspiration – and then adapted it for violin. The outer portions of the tightly constructed score have something of rock’s punch; in between comes a meditation with a hint of Eastern music…The suite makes one helluva vehicle for (Leiila) Josefowicz’s startling technical facility, burnished tone and superior musicality.” ~Tim Smith, Baltimore Sun, 12/9/04

“The other solo work was Mark Grey’s ‘San Andreas Suite,’ an elegant showpiece calculated to make the instrument and a strong performer playing it appear at their best. In the outer movements, Ms. Josefowicz roamed around a large repertory of traditional virtuoso effects. The slow movement is simple melody with left-hand pizzicato accompaniment.” ~Bernard Holland, The New York Times, 11/12/05

“After the intermission, the violinist played another unaccompanied solo work, written for her: the San Andreas Suite of Mark Grey, who was present in the audience. This evocation of life in California didn’t seem, at first hearing, as particularly profound (in contrast to the Salonen), but the composer is undeniably talented. The variety of sounds he creates from a single instrument is impressive, even when it is inspired by the guitar playing of Eddie Van Halen. Best of all is the second movement, a quiet, intense portrait of Clear Lake, using Asian-like musical language. Josefowicz was even more of a virtuoso here, and her ability to hold the whole thing together with such loving intensity makes this a definitive performance.” ~James Hennerty, Special to the Times Union, Albany, NY, 12/5/04

Other Review:  Metroactive, Santa Cruz, California

Press:  John Hopkins University

Creators at Carnegie

NPR

Blood Red

“Cellist Joan Jeanrenaud (late of the Kronos Quartet) was a superb soloist in Mark Grey’s ‘Blood Red,’ which mixed live and electronically processed sounds in a slow-fast one-two punch that drove to a great and deeply moving conclusion.” ~Joshua Kosman, San Francisco Chronicle, 3/21/00

“…Beginning with the remarkable Blood Red, by Mark Grey, performed by the very remarkable Joan Jeanrenaud. Here cello and electronics were in close consort, building up to a level of high emotion.” ~Mark Alburger, 21st-Century Music

A Rax Dawn

Review from The Soundmind, 4/20/09

“(Rax Dawn) is a major piece of music, filled with awe, energy, and power, easily matching the scenery of southern Austria…Molly Morkoski played with enough vigor to fill two grand pianos; the piece was written specifically for her. This is expansive music, ‘cinemascopic’ music, mountainous music, and towards the end, a surprising, and tenderly beautiful, lullaby-type melody breaks in -– almost as a relief to what had been already played. The conclusion suggested to me the first hints of a fragrant morning rain just beginning to fall from beneath the mountain clouds.”

Bertoia I and Bertoia II (for Kronos Quartet)

“Two installments of Mark Grey’s Bertoia asked the quartet to sculpt other-worldly compositions in thick air using mysterious electronic aids.” ~Martin Bernheimer, The Financial Times (London), 11/19/03

Visual Music, Kronos Quartet – Sydney, Australia

Sydney Opera House

General Press

Kronos Quartet Makes Visual Music at Zankel Hall – Sequenza21