When the Philip Glass / Robert Wilson collaboration Einstein on the Beach, An Opera in Four Acts premiered in 1976, it marked the international breakthrough for its creators and changed what audiences might expect from opera, theater, or performance art. Critic John Rockwell, who reviewed the 1976 world premiere for the New York Times, has called Einstein on the Beach “timeless” and “an experience to cherish for a lifetime.” The production’s only two revivals to date came in 1984 and 1992. Although every performance of the work has attracted a sold-out audience, and the 1996 Nonesuch recording of the piece remains a classic, few people have actually experienced Einstein live. New audiences and an entirely new generation will have the opportunity during a 2012-2013 international tour in which New York-based producer Pomegranate Arts will bring the work to major cities around the world.

Opéra et Orchestre National de Montpellier Languedoc-Roussillon is scheduled to present the world premiere of Einstein on the Beach at the Opera Berlioz Le Corum on March 17 and 18, 2012. From May 4 through 13, 2012, the Barbican will present the first-ever UK performances of the work in conjunction with the Cultural Olympiad's London 2012 Festival. (Also represented at the festival will be Rokia Traoré, who is working on a project with novelist Toni Morrison and director Peter Sellars.) The North American premiere at the June 2012 Luminato festival in Toronto represents the first North American presentation ever held outside of New York City. The Brooklyn Academy of Music (BAM) 2012 Next Wave Festival will once again be home to the New York premiere, having presented the 1984 and 1992 iterations. The piece will make its West Coast debut with a two-week run at Cal Performances on the University of California, Berkeley, campus. The tour is currently slated to conclude at Amsterdam’s De Nederlandse Opera/The Amsterdam Music Theatre in January 2013. Before the tour, in January 2012, the entire Einstein on the Beach company will be in residence at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, whose University Musical Society will host technical rehearsals and early previews.

Einstein on the Beach defies the rules of conventional opera. Instead of a traditional orchestral arrangement, Glass chose to compose the work for the synthesizers, woodwinds, and voices of the Philip Glass Ensemble. Nonnarrative in form, the work uses a series of powerful recurrent images shown in juxtaposition with abstract dance sequences created by American choreographer Lucinda Childs and constructed in the classical principle of theme and variation. The opera consists of four acts that are connected by a series of short scenes or “knee plays.” The performance lasts nearly five hours and has no traditional intermissions; instead, the audience is invited to wander in and out at liberty.

Originally produced by the Byrd Hoffman Foundation, Einstein on the Beach was first performed in 1976 at the Festival d’Avignon in France, followed by a European tour that summer culminating, in the fall of the same year, in a presentation at the Metropolitan Opera in New York.

Einstein on the Beach was the first collaboration between Glass and Wilson. For the new production, they are working with a number of their longtime collaborators, including Lucinda Childs, who will serve as choreographer, as she did in 1984 and 1992. All of these artists are now in their 70s; the production will be a cornerstone of Glass’s 75th birthday year. They are committed to passing on the work to a new generation, and so are recruiting younger artists for the creative team and cast.

"For Bob and me, the 2012-13 revival of Einstein on the Beach will be a most significant event, since in all likelihood, this will be the last time that we will be together and able to work on the piece," the composer says. "For audiences, few of whom have experienced Einstein apart from audio recordings, this tour will be a chance finally to see this seminal work. In this production, my composition will remain consistent with the 1976 original. The technology of theater staging and lighting has improved to such an extent that it will be interesting to see how Bob uses these innovations to realize his original vision."

Robert Wilson adds, "Philip and I have been always been surprised by the impact that the opera had and has. I am particularly excited about this revival, as we are planning to re-envision Einstein with a new generation of performers, some of whom were not even born when Einstein had its world premiere."

For more information on the tour, visit pomegranatearts.com.