Wes returns to Detroit Opera as Figaro in Ragnar Kjartansson’s Bliss, a 12-hour performance piece adaptation of Mozart’s Le nozze di Figaro. From Bliss FAQ: “Bliss is an immersive performance art piece that replays three sublime minutes of The Marriage of Figaro with the same cast and same orchestra without pause for twelve hours. The scene, in which Count Almaviva pleads for, and ultimately wins, the Countess’s forgiveness, features some of the most heavenly music Mozart composed. BLISS creates the feeling of an eternal looped moment of repentance and grace, of free-falling in sublime transcendence in this immersive experience. Bliss will mark the first live performance being performed in the iconic Michigan Building Theatre at 220 Bagley since its conversion to a parking center, breaking a fifty-year performance hiatus in the venue. Audiences are invited to come and go as they please, staying for 12 minutes or all 12 hours, with a ‘pay what you can’ admission. This site-specific re-staging of the work by MOT Artistic Director Yuval Sharon aims to capture a state of wonder as sublime music and a landmark Detroit gem meet.”
Press:
-Detroit Free Press: Michigan Opera Theatre stages lavish, 12-hour show in ruins of old Detroit...
-On the Stuplime: All 12 hours of Ragnar Kjartansson’s “BLISS” at the Michigan Opera Theatre
-In Conversation: Ragnar Kjartansson and Yuval Sharon
-Hour Detroit: MOT to present 12-hour ‘Bliss’ Performance at Michigan Building