"What Does 1776 Mean to You?" Detroit Opera Asks at Cranbrook Art Museum

Detroit Opera to present John Cage’s "Apartment House 1776" at Cranbrook Art Museum, May 21–24

DETROIT, MI – Detroit Opera’s 25/26 opera season will conclude with John Cage’s Apartment House 1776, an immersive operatic experience staged inside the galleries of the Cranbrook Art Museum on May 21, 22, 23, and 24. The production will be directed by Alexander Gedeon and will feature performance artist Selena Kearney; Detroit Opera Resident Artists Mia Mandineau, Brianna J. Robinson, and Travis Leon Williams; and the Detroit Opera Orchestra. There is no assigned seating, and audiences will choose their own paths through the performance. Tickets ($49) are available in person at the Detroit Opera House, online at detroitopera.org, and at 313.237.6454. Any unsold tickets will be available at the door at Cranbrook.

What does 1776 mean to you? As the United States approaches its semiquincentennial,

Detroit Opera invites audiences to experience John Cage’s Apartment House 1776, conceived for the U.S. bicentennial celebration of American independence in 1976: a free-form musical tapestry or “musicircus” that reflects America’s diversity and interdependence. Now, 50 years later, Detroit Opera presents a one-of-a-kind immersive experience realizing Cage’s utopian vision of American cultural coexistence, in a new production by Alexander Gedeon. No two audience members will have the same experience, with audiences moving freely during the performance. Four performers trace interwoven journeys across a landscape shaped by Cage’s rearrangements of Revolutionary-era music, their stories crisscrossing, colliding, and converging. Artists choose their own musical materials, performed simultaneously, creating a dense,

constantly shifting sound mix. In essence, Cage hands over the creative process to the

performers, who each tell their own personal stories through the songs they have chosen

to perform.

Each experience is 90 minutes per timed entry, which includes built-in pre-and post-show experiences offering insight into Cage’s iconoclastic vision of the United States and inviting reflection on our shared future. Apartment House 1776 caps Detroit Opera’s season-long exploration of American identity as the nation prepares to mark the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence in 2026.

John Cage in Detroit: John Cage’s performance history in Detroit goes back at least to

1975, when his Child of Tree, featuring dancer Merce Cunningham performing to the

sounds of an amplified cactus, was presented at Detroit’s Music Hall. More recently,

audiences and critics alike praised Detroit Opera’s presentation of Yuval Sharon’s

production of Cage’s Europeras 3 & 4 at the Gem Theatre in 2024. One audience member

described it as “mind-bending and mind-blowing,” with another commenting that it

“...generated a surprising range of aesthetic feelings—including pure aesthetic joy,

thoughtful contemplation, sorrow, hilarity, boredom, anxiety, and confusion.”

“Being in the audience was like sitting at a café on a street corner watching the world go by." - Runner Detroit Magazine.

"The stage became a cityscape layered over a soundscape that was continually transforming before our eyes and ears as layers appeared and disappeared creating a musical palimpsest of sorts.”

HOUR Detroit described the performance as “a ghostly, otherworldly cacophony made up of fragments and scraps of sound…"

APARTMENT HOUSE 1776

By John Cage

Director: Alexander Gedeon

Performers: Selena Kearney, Mia Mandineau, Brianna J. Robinson, Travis Leon Williams

Detroit Opera Orchestra

Cranbrook Art Museum, Bloomfield Hills, Michigan

Thursday, May 21, 7 pm / 8 pm / 9pm

Friday, May 22, 7 pm / 8 pm / 9 pm

Saturday, May 23, 2 pm / 3 pm / 4 pm

Saturday, May 23, 7 pm / 8 pm / 9 pm

Sunday, May 24, 2 pm / 3 pm / 4 pm

Sunday, May 24, 7 pm / 8 pm / 9 pm

Tickets: Detroitopera.org, 313-237-7464, in person at the Detroit Opera box office (1526

Broadway Street, Detroit). Any unsold tickets will be available at the door at Cranbrook.

Note: This opera experience will require walking and standing. Limited chairs will be available

throughout the experience. If you need wheelchair or other assistance, please contact the

box office.

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