Projects

S U P E R M A X

Four Inmates in Solitary. One hour every day they are brought into these cages. That hour is our opera.

  • Project Created By

    Stewart Wallace

    Wallace's unconventional and highly theatrical body of work is at once outrageous, intensely rhythmic, melodic, irreverent, funny and emotionally compelling.

  • Project Location
    New York, New York
  • Project Dates
    Start Date
    June 1, 2020
    End Date
    July 31, 2021

S U P E R M A X

Four Inmates in Solitary. One hour every day they are brought into these cages. That hour is our opera.

A 1999 article in The New York Times was the initial inspiration. It described a maximum security prison in Florence, Colorado where these four inmates were held in solitary:

Ted Kaczynski(Bass), the Unabomber
Timothy McVeigh(Tenor), the Oklahoma City Bomber
Ramzi Yousef(Countertenor), the first and unsuccessful World Trade Center Bomber
Luis Felipe (Baritone), Head of the Latin Kings Gang,”the only one who didn’t bomb!”

For one hour all four are taken together into the prison yard, put into adjoining chain link cages and allowed to communicate, the only human contact of their day.  The New York Times called it “the oddest coffee klatsch in the history of Western Civilization.”  That hour is our opera.  And it is exactly one hour.  When the hour is up, the opera is over no matter where in the score.

Media Highlights

NewMusicUSA Grantee Event

Ukrainian Contemporary Music Festival: DEFENSE-DEFIANCE-DEDICATION

March 28, 2024 | 7:00 pm

The DiMenna Center for Classical Music, 450 West 37th Street New York, NY 10018

NewMusicUSA Grantee Event

Ukrainian Contemporary Music Festival: VIRKO BALEY AT 85

March 29, 2024 | 7:00 pm

The DiMenna Center for Classical Music, 450 West 37th Street New York, NY 10018

NewMusicUSA Grantee Event

Plastic Dream Fugue – Aaron Larget-Caplan in Concert

March 29, 2024 | 7:30 pm

First Church Boston, 66 Marlborough Street, Boston 02116

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