Dance of the Stones, 2010Brian Schober's new chamber opera, "Dance of the Stones" was premiered in November, 2010 at Theatre80 on St. Mark's Place in New York City, and received favorable reviews. With a libretto by Richard Olson, the work is inspired by Japanese Noh drama, but with modern, everyday characters searching for meaning in life. Appropriately subtitled A Journey beyond Words, much of the operas
emotional story is conveyed through dance, pantomime, and choral
interludes that draw upon a rich range of what is described as
multi-textured music of shifting modalities. Mr. Schober, an American composer and organist who studied in France
with Olivier Messiaen (as well as in the US), as described by a reviewer: "seems to have some of
Messiaens mark on his musical style, although his wide-ranging textures
and timbres are so sensitively connected to his operas drama and
libretto that what emerges is something altogether unique."