Three Tales is a video opera by Pulitzer-prize winning composer Steve Reich and video artist Beryl Korot that examines man’s deepening relationship with technology.

Incorporating live orchestra and singers, sampled audio, re-processed historical film and interviews with prescient cultural thinkers, Ensemble BPM presents the first ever staging of its kind at the London Science Museum’s IMAX Theatre.

The work will be presented in association with a conference at the Institute of Historical Research entitled Being Modern: Science and Culture in the Early Twentieth Century, led by Dr Robert Bud, Chief Curator at the Science Museum. Performances take place on 22 and 24 April 2015 – the former date marking the centenary of the first use of chemical weapons in warfare.

Composed in 1998-2002, Three Tales recalls three events from twentieth-century history, exploring technology’s growing dominance in society: the crash of the Hindenburg zeppelin in 1937, nuclear bomb testing on Bikini Atoll in 1946-1958 and the cloning of Dolly the Sheep in 1996.

Ensemble BPM is only the second group to stage Three Tales since the work’s 2002 premiere. The production will be conducted by Artistic Director Nick Sutcliffe, directed by Matthew Eberhardt and produced by Amanda Carrick.

Ensemble BPM will be joined in performance by Synergy Vocals, the world-renowned vocal collective selected by Steve Reich to premiere the work in 2002, led by former Swingle Singer Micaela Haslam.

The production is supported by the Science Museum, Arts Council England, AHRC and The Hinrichsen Foundation.

Adults £22.00, Concessions £12.00

www.sciencemuseum.org.uk/threetales or call 0870 870 4868

Performed and produced by Ensemble BPM with Synergy Vocals
Music: Steve Reich & Video: Beryl Korot
Artistic & Musical Director: Nick Sutcliffe
Instrumentalists: Nathan Mercieca – piano, Katherine Tinker – piano, Dave Burgoyne – percussion, Oli Butterworth – percussion, Oliver Lowe – vibraphone, Jude Carlton – vibraphone, Ligeti Quartet (Patrick Dawkins – violin, Phillip Granell – violin, Richard Jones – viola, Valerie Welbanks – cello)
Synergy Vocals: Amanda Morrison – soprano, Micaela Haslam – soprano, Gerard O’Beirne – tenor, Ben Alden – tenor, Philip Conway Brown – tenor
Stage Director: Matthew Eberhardt
Designer: Gillean Denny
Assistant Designer: Catherine Morgan
Lighting Designer & Op: Stuart Webb
Sound Designers: Sound Intermedia
AV Technician: Clancy Flynn
Producer: Amanda Carrick
Production Manager: Tammy Rose

About Ensemble BPM
Founded in 2010, Ensemble BPM specialises in the creation of contemporary musical multimedia, embracing the inseparability of musical and theatrical thought. Collaborating with both emerging and established artists, it creates vivid, accessible and immersive works of art that reflect the pace and flux of modern cultural life. Through its productions, the group aims to illuminate the sights and sounds of an increasingly complex world. ensemblebpm.com

About the Science Museum
As the home of human ingenuity, the Science Museum’s world-class collection forms an enduring record of scientific, technological and medical achievements from across the globe. Welcoming over 3 million visitors a year, the Museum aims to make sense of the science that shapes our lives, inspiring visitors with iconic objects, award-winning exhibitions, fantastic events and incredible stories of scientific achievement. sciencemuseum.org.uk

Key resources:
Act 1, HINDENBURG
Bernhard Rieger, Technology and the Culture of Modernity in Britain and Germany, 1890-1945, Cambridge University Press, 2005

Act 2, BIKINI
Spencer R. Weart, Nuclear Fear, a history of images, Harvard University Press, 1988

Act 3, DOLLY
Sarah Franklin, Dolly Mixtures: The Remaking of Genealogy, Duke University Press, 2007

Several publications on Dolly can be accessed here: sarahfranklin.com/publications.