New York’s Surprising New Performance Space – The High Line

Once, it was an eyesore – a stretch of derelict train tracks that loomed over Manhattan’s West Side around 10^th Avenue.  Then, it became a public park, and a popular tourist attraction.  Now, The High Line is the site for an ambitious new work called The Mile Long Opera. The idea came from architect Elizabeth Diller, whose firm Diller Scofidio & Renfro did the original redesign of The High Line back in 2004. The music is by Pulitzer Prize winning composer David Lang. Both are New Yorkers. This is important, because The Mile Long Opera is a response to a rapidly changing New York and is based on hours of interviews with hundreds of city residents. 

It’s also performed by a sizable population of New Yorkers: 1000 singers representing community choirs from all five boroughs. 

More a living sound installation than an actual opera, the piece runs from October 3 to 8, at 7pm each night. (The Mile Long Opera is subtitled “A Biography of 7 O’Clock.”) It’s free but requires tickets, which were all quickly snapped up. However, a standby list is available on a first-come, first-served basis each night.  And a 360-degree virtual experience is available as well.