Between Rhetoric and Reality

Invisible Cities (2013) and Hopscotch (2015) incorporate audience members through techniques of immersion and process. Directed by Yuval Sharon and produced by The Industry, both works use participatory methods to renegotiate operatic norms by offering their audiences “once-in-a-lifetime” experiences. A site-specific work, Christopher Cerrone’s Invisible Cities premiered at Union Station, Los Angeles. The fluid physicality of the space offered varying levels of accessibility to the audience—which reflects and reinforces the social experiences of the modern American public. Hopscotch emerged as a collaboration between ten composers and six librettists (among other designers and producers) and was staged in cars as a mobile opera across Los Angeles. In both works, questions relating to musical form, narrative flexibility, artistic vision, and production space are investigated within the framework of intentional disruption of “audience,” “performer,” and “author” norms. Overall, this chapter illuminates the intersection of “immersive” and “participatory” in opera, revealing layered contradictions of intent and methodology inherent in participatory opera.