Cold Spring

As part of the lengthy production process for this EMPAC-commissioned opera, composer Sean Griffin worked in residence with staff as well as auditioned regional actors. He also developed the Cold Spring set by researching, and acquiring on loan, artifacts drawn from the Museum of Innovation and Science in Schenectady, NY, the General Electric Company collection, and from several other historic collections of upstate New York industrial history. Griffin worked in collaboration with EMPAC engineers on integrating the computer-based lighting system and cue-based computer-controlled rigging with his compositional approach, blending these technologies with dancers, musicians, actors, and a roller derby team.

Sean Griffin’s unique compositional works rely on interdisciplinary incongruities positioned at the intersection of sound, image, performance, and the archive. His works manifest as music, large and small-scale operas, collaborative installations, historically weighted musical performance works, and numeric choreographies. His pieces have been commissioned and presented internationally by venues including LA’s REDCAT, Hammer Museum, and Contemporary Museum of Art, London’s Royal Academy and Tate Modern, among others. He lives and works in Los Angeles.