I Was Looking at the Ceiling and Then I Saw the Sky ( John Adams) Eugen Jebeleanu, Vincent Renaud, Opéra de Lyon, 2020

Synopsis In Los Angeles, seven young Americans from varied origins (Black American, Caucasian, Asian, Hispanic) see their destinies upturned during the earthquake in 1994. This catastrophe sets off a series of situations which little by little draw a fresco of contemporary society and its contradictions. A dark, highly charged work As the heir to the American minimalist school of Terry Riley, Philip Glass or Steve Reich, or else of Ravel or Debussy, John Adams marked a turning point in his career with this opera. For, here, the composer forged links with the masters who had revolutionised the musical comedy : George Gershwin and Leonard Bernstein. In an attempt, like them, to capture the popular language of his times, he naturally turned towards rock and pop, in particular in his instrumentation, so as to mingle these genres with the classical.