Coming to L.A.: Climate crisis opera ‘Sun & Sea,’ which wowed the Venice Biennale
The Hammer, MOCA, and CAP UCLA present Sun & Sea's Los Angeles premiere, transforming The Geffen Contemporary at MOCA with 13 vocalists and 25 tons of sand.
"Sun and Sea" “Sun & Sea,” the climate crisis opera that earned the top prize at the 2019 Venice Biennale, is embarking on a U.S. tour that will end in Los Angeles mid-October in a co-presentation by the Hammer Museum, the Center for the Art of Performance at UCLA and the Museum of Contemporary Art.
The production will be staged at MOCA’s Geffen Contemporary in Little Tokyo, and tickets will go on sale Sept. 17 on MOCA’s website.
The work — directed by Rugilė Barzdžiukaitė, written by Vaiva Grainytė and scored by Lina Lapelytė, all women representing the Lithuanian pavilion at the biennial — addresses the harsh realities of climate change. It was a hit in Venice, generating hours-long lines for nearly every performance. It remains on a European tour.
In L.A., the Geffen Contemporary will be transformed with up to 20 tons of sand and locally sourced rocks, shells and driftwood. Swimsuit-clad vocalists, as they go about beach activities, will perform the libretto (originally written in Lithuanian) in English. It touches on species extinction, global tourism and the warming Earth, among other ecological concerns. Audience members will watch the performance from a U-shaped balcony, looking down onto the beach as if they were an animal flying overhead.
The tour kicks off at the Brooklyn Academy of Music on Sept. 15, then moves to Philadelphia’s Arcadia Exhibitions at Arcadia University as part of the city’s Fringe Festival on Sept. 30. The next stop is the Momentary, a satellite space of Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art in Bentonville, Ark., starting Oct. 6. The public premiere in L.A. is Oct. 14.
Grainytė described the libretto in a statement as “a mosaic of stories, inner monologues, dreams and thoughts, sung in solos and as a chorus by the beachgoers. — Deborah Vankin, Aug. 17, 2021
This post is an excerpt. Read the full article on the Los Angeles Times website.
HEADER IMAGE: The climate crisis opera, “Sun & Sea,” performed at the 2019 Venice Biennale.(Photo: Andrej Vasilenko / from the artists)
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