Ariadne at Lyric. American Apollo at West Edge. Tolomeo at Philharmonia Baroque.
Featured Essay · On Cognition

Unruly
Coherence

A lone Pierrot figure on an empty stage, a shaft of gold light fractured into overlapping triangles

What Pierrot, and his tanzlied, understands about cognition: that ambiguity, masks, and misdirection are not failures of meaning, but part of how meaning arrives.

Read the essay · 11 min

Intersections & Consilience

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02 / Psychoanalysis

Enigmatic Signifiers and Organizational Cognition

Read essay →03 / Performance Theory

Deviating from the Script

Read essay →04 / On Spectacle

Gesamtkunstwerk

Read essay →05 / Pedagogy

Mastery in Action

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The Visual
Archive

A curated stream of captured moments, from NYC, Houston, Seattle, Bard College, Santa Fe, San Francisco, and elsewhere.

Curtain call of Porgy and Bess with a large ensemble cast on a two-story Catfish Row set

01. Metropolitan Opera, New York

Looking straight up at the Metropolitan Opera lobby ceiling, gold leaf scalloped coffers framing the Sputnik chandelier

02. Metropolitan Opera, Lincoln Center

Full company of The Picture of Dorian Gray taking a bow on a black-paneled set hung with framed portraits of the title character in a red brocade robe

03. Santa Fe Opera

Green floral show curtain for Florencia en el Amazonas at the Met, gold proscenium and antlered chandelier above

04. Metropolitan Opera, New York

Sportin' Life taking a solo bow in an electric blue suit and gold waistcoat, Crown beside him, Catfish Row chorus under a red sky

05. Houston Grand Opera, Wortham Center

Three performers in glittering red and gold monkey masks with long pheasant-feather plumes bow downstage, robed chorus in cloud-painted white behind

06. San Francisco Opera, War Memorial

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Currently

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Upcoming

Ariadne auf Naxos at Lyric Opera Chicago

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Upcoming

Mozart + Ligeti requiems in one night at the LA Phil

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Upcoming

Sacramento Phil's B9

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Aside

Poolside reading for Memorial Day weekend

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Baltar
I've been here before.
Caprica Six
Yes.
Baltar
We're… we're supposed to…
Caprica Six
Go into the opera house.