Celebrate the release of the final episodes of Lisa Mezzacappa and Beth Lisick multi-year serial audio opera The Electronic Lover (commissioned by New Performance Traditions) with a listening party, live performances of select arias from the 9-episode series, and an 80s-themed reception.
The audio opera, created by Mezzacappa in collaboration with New York writer Beth Lisick, is a serial drama that has been released as a free podcast since summer 2020. The story is set in Internet chatrooms in the early 1980s. The music is free to stream or download on all the major podcast platforms, including Apple Podcasts and Google Podcasts. Episodes can also be watched with accompanying libretto on Vimeo. Full cast information, libretto, and episode credits are available at theelectroniclover.com.
The cast of The Electronic Lover includes lead vocalists whose careers as performers and songwriter/composers encompass jazz, classical, choral, opera, indie pop, Afrobeat and art rock music: Karina Denike, Michelle Amador, Katy Stephan, Melody Jeune Ferris, Nikola Printz (episodes 2-6), Will Adams (episodes 7-9), David James, Sidney Chen (episodes 5-8), and Lola Miller (episodes 5,6, 9). In addition, a micro choir specializing in contemporary vocal techniques features star experimental vocalists Danishta Rivero, Aurora Josephson, and David Katz (as well as Jesse Olsen Bay in episode 1). The musicians include synthesizer virtuoso Steve Blum and percussion wizard Jordan Glenn, with Mezzacappa on electric and acoustic bass. Lisick narrates.
Guest performers have included coloratura soprano Shawnette Sulker (episode 5); Del Sol Quartet (episode 5), and the Premier Ensemble of the San Francisco Girls Chorus (episode 9).
With support from Innova Records and the American Composers Forum, the full 9-episode series will be released as a limited-edition box set in 2024, including more than four hours of high-fidelity audio, and a printed booklet with libretto, photos, and liner notes.
The Story
The Electronic Lover explores the naive moment when we first invited computers into the most intimate aspects of our lives. The story is based on a 1985 article published in Ms. Magazine that described the thrilling, sordid dramas of an early online community created by a group of women techies who found a way to connect via the nascent chatroom community. Before trolls and Internet stalkers, before revenge porn or social media bullying, these women discovered the joys and perils of opening up their lives and hearts to the people they met online. Lisick and Mezzacappa built out the story and characters based on interviews with current Bay Area residents who were part of the region’s own virtual community in the 1980s, called The Well.
The Creators
Berkeley, CA-based composer, bassist, and producer Lisa Mezzacappa has been an active part of California’s vibrant music community for nearly 20 years. Her activities as a composer and ensemble leader include ethereal chamber music, electro-acoustic works, avant-garde jazz, music for groups from duo to large ensemble, and collaborations with film, dance, and visual art. Recent projects include Cosmicomics, a suite for electro-acoustic jazz sextet based on Italo’s Calvino’s stories about the origins of the cosmos; Organelle, a chamber work for improvisers grounded in scientific processes; Glorious Ravage, an evening-length song cycle for large ensemble and films drawn from the writings of Victorian lady adventurers; and Touch Bass, a collaboration with choreographer Risa Jaroslow for three dancers and three bassists. She also co-leads the community improvisation ensemble, the duo B. Experimental Band, with drummer Jason Levis.
Beth Lisick is a writer, actor, and storytelling producer from the San Francisco Bay Area, currently living in New York. As an author, she has published six books including the novel Edie on the Green Screen (7.13 Books, 2020), the memoir collection Yokohama Threeway and Other Small Shames (City Lights, 2014), the New York Times bestselling comic memoir Everybody Into the Pool (ReganBooks, Harper Collins, 2005), and the gonzo self-help manifesto and national bestseller Helping Me Help Myself (William Morrow, Harper Collins, 2008). With a grant from the Creative Work Fund, she collaborated on a chapbook series called Tell You What (2012) with the artists at Creativity Explored, a studio and gallery for artists with developmental disabilities. Beth's acting credits include a featured role on the Emmy-winning Amazon series Transparent and lead acting roles in numerous independent films screened at Cannes, Sundance, Tribeca, and the San Francisco International Film Festival. She does voiceover work for museums, including the Smithsonian, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, and SFMOMA.
The commission and production of this podcast is made possible by the Gerbode Foundation Special Award in the Arts program, Phyllis C. Wattis Foundation, the City of Berkeley Civic Arts program. In addition, the final episodes of The Electronic Lover have received support from the Zellerbach Family Foundation Community Arts Program, the InterMusic SF Musical Grant Program, and the Live Music Revival Fund.