About the work
Europera 5 is the fifth and smallest part of the Europeras, a series of experimental operas by the American composer John Cage. The piece, lasting about an hour, was written in 1991 at the request of pianist Yvar Mikhashoff, who wanted a compact, easily portable work in the series. It was first performed on 12 April 1991 at the North American New Music Festival in Buffalo.
Plot
There is no plot. Two singers perform arias of their own choosing from the standard opera repertoire, a pianist plays opera transcriptions, and a gramophone plays historical opera recordings; tape, radio, a silent television and lighting changes are added. A time schedule determined by chance operations fixes when each layer enters, so that everything overlaps independently; the performance lasts exactly 60 minutes.
Cultural significance
The series title is a pun on "your operas": Cage saw the Europeras as sending European opera back to where it came from. Europera 5 is regarded as his last opera; performances in the garden of the Museum of Modern Art in New York in summer 1992 were the last public performance of his own work that Cage attended before his death on 12 August 1992.