How We Saved the World: A Multimedia Musical Drama

Abstract

A monograph on the musical composition How We Saved the World, a multimedia musical drama written by the author, describes in detail the history of the writing of the piece, its context within his development as a composer, its context within our times, the writing and structure of the libretto, the characters and character types within the piece, their relationships with one another, the music of the piece and its construction. The two hour long composition requires 44 performers to stage: 14 singers, 8 dancers, and a conducted 21 piece orchestra. In addition to traditional acoustic instruments (winds, brass, percussion, strings) the orchestra includes electric guitars, drum set, and audio and video laptop performers. How We Saved the World is situated in a future time and begins with the premise that the world has been saved. Human beings have found a way to live in peace and harmony with one another and with the ecology of our planet Earth. We, the participants in the performance are sharing among ourselves the story of how human culture changed from the destructive, unsustainable practices and consciousness of the past. The libretto is included as an appendix. The score and all of the audio files needed to perform the piece are included as supplementary material.