For five consecutive nights, October 3-8, 2018, 1,000 singers from across New York City came together on the High Line for the first-ever performances of The Mile-Long Opera: a biography of 7 o’clock. Audience members became active participants in this ambitious, collective, free choral work. As they walked along the park, audiences could move in and out of groups of singers, immersing themselves in hundreds of stories inspired by the accounts of a wide range of New Yorkers, about life in our rapidly changing city.
The Mile-Long Opera is conceived by Pulitzer Prize-winning composer David Lang and architects Diller Scofidio + Renfro. Acclaimed poets Anne Carson and Claudia Rankine wrote the text, inspired by real-life stories, many of them gathered through first-hand interviews with residents throughout the city, asking what 7:00 pm means to them. While 7:00 pm almost universally represents a time of transition from day to night, when people shift from one activity to the next, these conversations reveal a vast spectrum of feelings and perspectives—and, by extension, represent the diverse character of the city’s inhabitants and their individual experiences.
composer David Lang
librettist Anne Carson
essayist Claudia Rankine
co-created by Diller Scofidio + Renfro
directors Elizabeth Diller, Lynsey Peisinger
music director Donald Nally
sound designer Jody Elff
lighting designer John Torres
costume designer Carlos Soto
creative advisor Ragnar Kjartarsson
assistant director Matthew Johnson
assistant music director Kevin Vondrak
co-produced by DS+R, the High Line, and THE OFFICE performing arts + film
presenting sponsor Target
cover of Architecture + Urbanism magazine, 2019; monographic issue featuring Diller Scofidio + Renfro