Conductor

The Onion is a new opera in which family secrets collide with a memory-enhancing AI. Through contact with their younger selves, its characters bring to the surface the experiences that have shaped their lives: a sexist theft of scientific work, the vanishing of a parent, the erasure of a gender identity. Will the intervention of an AI hurt or heal?

The opera unfolds on an island in the Pacific Northwest where a neuroscientist has sequestered herself with her daughter to create the Onion, an AI device that allows anyone using it to re-live a personal memory. Rounding out the human roles are the Onion’s young co-inventor and the neuroscientist’s ex-partner. The Onion itself is a character in the opera: its independence and influence on the human characters seem to grow each time they use it.

EPSG:4326

The Onion

Amherst College

Huntington Theatre

This concert focused on the environment features the world premiere of Praeordinatus Ut Astra Sacrificia Nostra ("Fore-Ordained As Stars Our Sacrifices") by MIT alumnus and Tony Award-winning composer Jamshied Sharifi, commissioned for the Linde Music Building's opening season. The title comes from W. S. Merwin's poem "For a Coming Extinction," which addresses human-caused mass species extinction.

The program includes In Praise of the Humpback, arranged by Fred Harris and performed in memory of biologist and environmentalist Roger Payne, who discovered humpback whale songs in 1967. Sharifi's To the Light, to the Flame, inspired by Mary Oliver's poem "The Summer Day," joins other works for small and large ensembles celebrating nature's beauty and power. Remarks from MIT President Sally Kornbluth complete the event.

As Stars, Our Sacrifices

Thomas Tull Concert Hall

Join the MIT Symphony Orchestra and MIT Concert Choir for Mozart's Requiem and other works by Harbison and Brahms.

MIT Symphony Orchestra

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

The Longy Vocal Studies Department and Longy’s Orchestra FLEX under the baton of Ryan Turner team up to present beloved arias and duets from the operatic repertoire, oratorio, and other works for orchestra and voice.

Conductor

Ryan Turner

Events

Past events

11 - 26 Sep, 2025

The Onion · MassOpera

Mar 15, 2025

As Stars, Our Sacrifices · MIT Music and Theater Arts

Future and recently performed repertoire

Conductor in The Onion by Sawyer

MassOpera

About

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