An opera exploring the life of the late Steve Jobs has won the financial backing of opera companies in San Francisco and Seattle, ensuring the musical production will be shown in the Apple co-founder's home state of California (via CBS SF Local).

The partnerships were announced on Tuesday, ahead of the premiere of "The (R)evolution of Steve Jobs" this July at the Sante Fe Opera's open-air summer stage, in the foothills of New Mexico's Sangre de Cristo Mountains.

Steve Jobs garage
The opera is a "deeply layered, moving portrayal of a man grappling with the complex priorities of life, family and work," according to San Francisco opera general manager Matthew Shilvock, who called Jobs "a real person and a member of our community".

"This is not an opera about technology, although it will be the highest technology production that we've ever done," said Charles MacKay, general director of the Santa Fe Opera. "It is an opera about relationships, and it is an opera about human frailties. He could be a very difficult man."


The opera has been composed by electronica DJ Mason Bates and written by librettist Mark Campbell. Accompaniments include a live orchestra, guitar, natural sounds, and expressive electronics. The co-commission from the Seattle Opera and the San Francisco Opera will cover artistic creation of the opera as well as its physical stage production, and guarantee their right to stage performances beyond Santa Fe in California and Washington, although it could take a few years before that happens because of the time it takes to schedule opera calendars.

Since his death in 2011, Jobs' personal and professional life has been the subject of several books, documentaries, and films. MacKay said Jobs provides the "sort of heroic, tragic figure" that operas have explored for centuries, and hopes the performances may lure new and younger audiences to metropolitan opera houses.

Top Rated Comments

maflynn Avatar
106 months ago
Wow an opera, and people will pay to see this?
Score: 4 Votes (Like | Disagree)
44267547 Avatar
106 months ago
I have no idea if it'll be any good but I think it sounds like an interesting premise.
I actually would be interested in seeing this. But like you said, would be any good?
Score: 3 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Porco Avatar
106 months ago
I have no idea if it'll be any good but I think it sounds like an interesting premise.
Score: 3 Votes (Like | Disagree)
graafisk Avatar
106 months ago
I'm NOT a published expert about such things, but I DO know you cannot just snub a work you've heard or seen nothing of simply because you don't *think* it will work. Clearly you've not done enough *thinking* about the subject.

Also, Mousse... I'm pretty sure you're being ironic... but to anyone who agrees with you at face value: the idea that opera should preferably be in some *foreign* language and certainly not English is preposterous (Porgy & Bess, Handel's The Messiah, Leonard Bernstein's White House Cantata, pretty much anything by Benjamin Britten); classical music is not just from the 16th-19th century, as any modern orchestral or ensemble work (film scores, for example) performed with traditional instrumentation and voices can sound like any Romantic master's work.

Case in point:

THE PERFECT AMERICAN by respected composer Philip Glass -- an opera about Walt Disney, another complicated man.

Or consider:

(just saw this here in Copenhagen a few months ago -- amazing)
DEAD MAN WALKING based on the book by Sister Helen Prejean; Music by Jake Heggie; Libretto by Terrence McNally.

You can even stretch the idea to Andrew Lloyd Webber's PHANTOM OF THE OPERA or the amazing retelling of Puccini's Madame Butterfly, MISS SAIGON!



So... open your eyes and ears, expand your definition of such ambiguous terms as classical or opera or modern.

I will happily give this one a chance, too, when it comes around.
Score: 2 Votes (Like | Disagree)
T'hain Esh Kelch Avatar
106 months ago
*Steve comes up onto the scene, supported by a choire of angels...*

".... You.. Are holding.. It... Wroooooooooong!!!"

*Crowd bursts into applause*
Score: 2 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Pagemakers Avatar
106 months ago
Oh please!

Why not a play about the Apple Watch band or a lightning charging cable.

Good grief.
Score: 1 Votes (Like | Disagree)

Popular Stories

apple wallet drivers license feature iPhone 15 pro

iPhone Driver's Licenses: These 17 U.S. States Offer Them or Will Later

Thursday June 19, 2025 11:28 am PDT by
In select U.S. states, residents can add their driver's license or state ID to the Wallet app on the iPhone and Apple Watch, providing a convenient and contactless way to display proof of identity or age at select airports and businesses, and in select apps. Unfortunately, this feature continues to roll out very slowly since it was announced in 2021, with only nine U.S. states and Puerto...
apple watch ultra 2 new black

Apple Watch Ultra 3 Finally Coming After Two-Year Hiatus

Monday June 16, 2025 8:45 am PDT by
Apple will finally deliver the Apple Watch Ultra 3 sometime this year, according to analyst Jeff Pu of GF Securities Hong Kong (via @jukanlosreve). The analyst expects both the Apple Watch Series 11 and Apple Watch Ultra 3 to arrive this year (likely alongside the new iPhone 17 lineup, if previous launches are anything to go by), according to his latest product roadmap shared with...
iPhone 17 Pro Blue Feature Tighter Crop

iPhone 17 Pro Launching in Three Months With These 12 New Features

Saturday June 14, 2025 5:45 pm PDT by
The iPhone 17 Pro and iPhone 17 Pro Max are three months away, and there are plenty of rumors about the devices. Below, we recap key changes rumored for the iPhone 17 Pro models as of June 2025:Aluminum frame: iPhone 17 Pro models are rumored to have an aluminum frame, whereas the iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 16 Pro models have a titanium frame, and the iPhone X through iPhone 14 Pro have a...
ios 26 call holding

iOS 26 Beta is Hiding a New Ringtone — Here's What It Sounds Like

Thursday June 19, 2025 7:25 pm PDT by
Apple is hiding a new ringtone within iOS 26. The new ringtone is an alternative version of the existing Reflection ringtone, which has been the default ringtone since the iPhone X was released in 2017. It was discovered within the code for the first developer beta of iOS 26, but it remains hidden, so you will not find it in the list of ringtones available in the Settings app for now. It...
iOS 18

Apple Releases iOS 18.6 Public Beta

Wednesday June 18, 2025 10:24 am PDT by
Apple today seeded the first betas of upcoming iOS 18.6 and iPadOS 18.6 updates to public beta testers, with the betas coming just a few days after Apple provided the betas to developers. Testers who have signed up for beta updates through Apple's beta site can download iOS 18.6 and iPadOS 18.6 from the Settings app on a compatible device by going to General > Software Update. When the...
General Spotify Feature

Spotify Preparing to Launch Long-Awaited Lossless Audio Tier on iPhone

Thursday June 19, 2025 1:46 pm PDT by
Spotify appears to be gearing up to launch its long-awaited lossless music tier. Chris Messina (via TechCrunch) and Spicetify (via The Verge) spotted new lossless references within the code for Spotify's desktop app and web player. With assistance from Aaron Perris, MacRumors has confirmed that the latest beta of the Spotify app for the iPhone also contains new lossless-related code....
new iphone lockscreen ios 26

iOS 26: Five Changes Coming to Your iPhone Lock Screen

Tuesday June 17, 2025 8:46 am PDT by
With iOS 26, Apple has made some additions to the iPhone Lock Screen that aim to make it more customizable than ever. Of course, things can always change before the software makes its way to the general iPhone-owning public, but here are five new things iOS 26 can do on the Lock Screen as of the current developer beta. Widgets Top or Bottom In iOS 18, the row of widgets on your Lock...
iOS 26 on Three iPhones

Apple Says iOS 26 Won't Be Available on These iPhone Models

Tuesday June 10, 2025 6:58 am PDT by
Apple this week revealed that iOS 26 is compatible with the iPhone 11 series and newer. That means that iOS 18 is the end of the road for the iPhone XS, iPhone XS Max, and iPhone XR, which were all released in 2018. However, those devices will continue to receive security updates for at least a few more years. iOS 26 is compatible with the following iPhone models: iPhone 16e iPhone...
Craig Federighi No

John Gruber Reacts to Apple Declining His Interview After His Criticism

Wednesday June 18, 2025 8:10 pm PDT by
Every year between 2015 and 2024, at least one Apple executive agreed to be interviewed by Daring Fireball's John Gruber for a special WWDC episode of his podcast, The Talk Show. Last year, for example, Apple's software engineering chief Craig Federighi, marketing chief Greg Joswiak, and top AI researcher John Giannandrea joined Gruber on stage at the California Theatre in San Jose to discuss...