› Summary:

Invisible Cities is a staged musical distillation of Italo Calvino’s evocative surrealist novel. Written by Christopher Cerrone and performed by four singers, small chorus and chamber orchestra, the work imagines the relationship of the historical figures Kublai Khan and Marco Polo. As the piece opens, the aging Khan sits remote in a shabby palace, watching his massive empire slowly decay. In quiet despair, he turns to the vivid young adventurer, Marco Polo, demanding an honest reflection of the empire’s condition. Instead of a single image, though, Polo offers myriad visions of the cities he has visited, real, imagined, wished for, wanted, extraordinary, oppressive, quotidian, whimsical; all ultimately reveries of his distant home, Venice, as well as his own heart, self and memory. These fractured pieces slowly reflect a whole truth; that infernal decay cannot corrupt all things, and that one may choose to seek, acknowledge and celebrate the incorruptible in all layers of life.

Invisible Cities explores the elemental human forces of love, death, memory, desire. Musically, the composer draws on wide-ranging influences – avant-garde, baroque opera, electronic, minimalist – to evoke and explore this compelling landscape.

› Project History:

In June 2008, the Invisible Cities overture received its premiere at the Acanthes Festival in Metz, France with the Orchestre National de Lorraine.

In May 2009, excerpts from Invisible Cities were premiered by New York City Opera as part of its VOX: Contemporary American Opera Lab series.

In May 2009, excerpts from Invisible Cities were performed by singers of the Viriginia Arts Festival in a semi-staged production directed by Rhoda Levine, where Christopher Cerrone was a fellow at the John Duffy Composers Institute.

In June 2009, excerpts from Invisible Cities were performed as part of the inaugural Yale Institute for Music Theatre, in a semi-staged production directed by Robin Guarino of The Metropolitan Opera, with extensive dramaturgical work by Cori Ellison of New York City Opera.

In November 2009 and April 2010, excerpts from Invisible Cities were premiered by the current cast with the Yale Philharmonia as part of the New Music New Haven concert series at Yale University.

The first five scenes of Invisible Cities were awarded a 2010 ASCAP/Morton Gould Young Composer Award. Invisible Cities is also a recipient of a 2009 CAP Grant and 2010 Recording Grant from the American Music Center.

Invisible Cities is currently being workshopped with American Lyric Theatre, where Cerrone is composer-in-residence.