breaking the waves

Scottish Opera / Opera Ventures

composer: Missy Mazzoli

director: Tom Morris

sound design: Jon Nicholls

Missy Mazzoli’s dark and daring opera caused a sensation when it premiered in 2016 – it won the 2017 Best New Opera Award from the Music Critics Association of North America and was shortlisted for an International Opera Award.

Based on Lars von Trier’s award-winning film, with libretto by Royce Vavrek, it tells the story of a young woman living in the Scottish Highlands in the 1970s. Caught in a torrent of contradictions about how to behave, she struggles to appease. Then, following a tragic accident, she finds herself in an impossible situation, and has no choice but to carve out her own path…

Jon created the opera’s electroacoustic undertow: a dark oceanic blend of digitally transformed bell, vocal and sea textures. He also designed and oversaw the implementation of the complex surround-sound system for both the original production at the Edinburgh International Festival and its subsequent transfer to the Adelaide Festival.