A Serial Audio-Opera Set in Chatrooms at the Dawn of the Internet
“Relatable and gripping”—KQED
During her SSB Away residency in Abiquiu, NM, last year, San Francisco Bay area composer Lisa Mezzacappa spent her time away creating the final episodes of The Electronic Lover.
The finale will premiere on WTJU 91.1 / WTJU.net Saturday, June 1, at 8 PM EST. The recording of the entire opera, which runs over 4 hours, will be released simultaneously on Innova records.
Lisa and New York writer Beth Lisick began the collaborative project in the summer of 2020. A nine-episode serial story set in 1980s chatrooms, the comedic drama features 14 vocalists, a synth-driven power trio, and special guests Del Sol Quartet and the Premier Ensemble of the San Francisco Girls Chorus.
Mezzacappa’s work has been praised by NPR’s Fresh Air as “slippery music with its own light-touch humor, sounds curling through time and space,” while Artforum noted that she “has a knack for conceptualizing and articulating fresh ideas in collaborations across multiple disciplines.” That light touch shines through in Mezzacappa’s effervescent and edgy score, infused with ’80s sonic and cultural references, and in the pitch-perfect libretto by Lisick, the New York Times-bestselling author of the comic memoir Everybody into the Pool.
SSB is pleased that our mission to germinate, cultivate, and present new works has helped Lisa to manifest this important work.