Friday night’s performance had a special appeal – for this performance only, all the soloists were members of the Washington National Opera’s Cafritz Young Artists program. While their young artists are often featured in supporting roles in each of their fully staged operas, one later performance is typically cast with only Cafritz members. This performance only, there were also Cafritz singers in these three main roles: Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak, and Chrisann Brennan. The talented and accomplished young artists, those continuing and newly inserted, did not disappoint. More on that, later.
For the May 9 performance the new Steve Jobs (Jonathan Patton), Steve Wozniak (Nicholas Huff), and Chrisann Brennan (Anneliese Klenetsky). Photos courtesy of Washington National Opera. Additional photos shown below are of the cast in the May 2 performance.
Greek gods have been the subject of many an opera and being both a human and a Greek god always had issues. Steve Jobs was a god of technology and a human being; the opera deals with how one affects the other. The human part bore substantial failings, and the god part supplied society-changing treasures/curses. Those close to him and who worked with him suffered the mental and emotional trauma he imposed on his path to running off the rails personally and to great heights as a technology god. His leadership of Apple, especially in the creation of the iPhone, has shifted the dial on human development. His wife remarked at his memorial service, as attendees departed, that they would all be pulling out their phones as they left. Maybe that’s how you want to remember him, with total admiration and respect. If so, this is not your opera. Creator Jobs was a complex man and his gifts to society were both great and…well, complicated, enabling technology for both use and misuse. If you are into complexity and what it means to be human, this opera is an entertaining and worthwhile experience, though the opera, like its subject is…well, complicated.
Köbun (Wei Wu) advising Steve Jobs (John Moore). Photo by Scott Suchman; courtesy of Washington National Opera.
Both, composer Mason Bates and librettist Mark Campbell have records of success in creating new operas. Washington National Opera’s production of The (R)evolution of Steve Jobs (2017) is the tenth production of this opera since its premiere by Santa Fe Opera in 2017. Key decisions made in crafting an opera about Steve Jobs included presenting vignettes of important inflection points from his life, not in chronological order, and to use electronic sound elements in the music. The singers wear microphones and some of the music is played by a synthesizer. The libretto is sung in operatic style, so while an opera, it is a modern fusion of opera and musical theater.
His wife Laurene (Winona Martin) tries to comfort Steve Jobs (John Moore). Photo by Scott Suchman; courtesy of Washington National Opera.
The opera begins with Job’s father Paul, played by baritone Justin Burgess, singing in steady, fatherly fashion, to ten-year-old Steven about a workbench he made for his son to use to explore how things work (the son was well played by actor Stone Stensrud). I have seen Mr. Burgess previously in performances of the American Opera Initiative, Wolf Trap Opera, and Washington National Opera. A highlight among the vignettes was baritone Jonathan Patton in the role of Steve Jobs announcing the first edition of the iPhone in 2007; Apple is not specifically mentioned nor “iPhone” for legal reasons, but we know. Mr. Patton was excellent in the role, with crisp, clear vocals that covered a range of emotions throughout the opera; to me it felt like a natural for him. He presented a stage presence of strength, as I imagine the forceful, complex character Steve Jobs was. (Baritone John Moore, a highly praised veteran of the role, played the role in the other WNO performances). I have seen Mr. Patton previously in an AOI performance and two WNO productions. The most fun scene in the opera was one where he as Jobs and tenor Nicholas Huff as Steve Wozniak, Job’s partner in initiating the Apple empire, hack into “Ma Bell” with a small device, a technological advance that allowed them to “stick it to the man”; of course, Jobs later became “the man”, Mr. Huff as Wozniak was run out of the company by Jobs after delivering an impassioned indictment of what Jobs had become. Mr. Huff’s strong acting and singing skills were on full display; I have seen him previously in an AOI performance.
Steve Jobs (John Moore) and Steve Wozniak (Jonathan Burton) celebrate their discovery. Photo by Scott Suchman; courtesy of Washington National Opera.
Bass Wei Wu cast as Steve Jobs’s spiritual advisor, Köbun Chino Ottagawa, deserves his own paragraph. He was a Cafritz young artist from 2013 to 2016 and has subsequently performed in numerous productions for Washington National Opera; while a young artist, he overlapped with Mark Campbell’s tenure as CYA’s first librettist mentor. Mr. Wu originated the role of Ottagawa with the Santa Fe Opera and has further developed the role in several productions since then. His bass voice was golden Friday night, and he was outstanding as Köbun, a centerpiece of the opera. Steve Jobs became interested in Buddhism early in life and at least contemplated becoming a monk. Köbun offers Jobs direct criticism as well as spiritual advice. His admonition to “Simplify” was an element in Apple product design under Jobs.
One of the charming scenes portrayed was Jobs hooking up with fellow college student Chrisann Brennan and doing LSD in a park. Girlfriend Chrisann was played convincingly by soprano Anneliese Klenetsky who sang beautifully with charm, and then anger and pathos, as Jobs pulled away from her to focus on his obsession, even to the point of brutally denying fatherhood of the child she bore. I have seen Ms. Klenetsky thus far in one AOI production. Jobs’ eventual wife and personal savior was played by mezzo-soprano Winona Martin in all performances. She brought balance to his life and forced him to seek health care he desperately needed. She sang beautiful arias and duets with Jonathan Patton in a standout performance. She has impressed as well in other performances I have seen with AOI, Wolf Trap Opera, and WNO. Mezzo-soprano Michelle Mariposa, who played a supporting role in all performances as Job’s teacher in a Japanese calligraphy class, performed in an AOI opera this year and was one of five winners of Metropolitan Opera’s 2025 Laffont Competition this year! Individually and as a team, the Cafritz young artists were delights, thoroughly professional, and the cast received an enthusiastic standing ovation at the end.
Chrisann (Kresley Figueroa) and Steve Jobs (John Moore) in a better place. Photo by Scott Suchman; courtesy of Washington National Opera.
Composer Mason Bates was the original composer in residence of WNO. He is known for combining traditional and electronic sounds. I found the music interesting and engaging. Instruments and motifs are associated with different characters. It’s combination of electronic and orchestral sound was befitting of an opera about a technology icon. The music was played with crisp perfection with Conductor Lidiya Yankovskaya leading the Washington National Opera, which often included meeting the challenge of having to match the beat of programmed electronic music. Chorus Steven Gathman did his usual fine job leading the WNO Chorus, who also served as Apple employees for several scenes. The music and the libretto combined to do an excellent job of storytelling, embellished by emotion. For me personally, I experienced the amplified pounding sound as beating on me a bit and needed the softer gentler music near the end to soothe.
The narrative, in keeping with a Zen theme, was organized around the ensō, a distinctive circle, hand drawn in one motion. The staging of the opera required accommodating a prologue (beginning with the child Steve Jobs, opening of the circle), an epilogue with the child Jobs (completing the circle), and with 17 scenes drawn from a dozen different years presented as random thoughts of Jobs, not presented in chronological order. The cast supposed to be off stage were seated on benches onstage consistent with the Zen theme. The stage for almost all scenes was dominated by 28 large screen monitors playing images imbuing the scenes with an aura of technology. This was an effective presentation; kudos to Revival Stage Director Rebecca Herman. However, for me the technological sameness imposed by the monitors detracted from many of the emotionally laden scenes, though the consistency allowed the opera to need only one hour and forty minutes to tell its story.
Librettist Campbell states in the program notes that “We can’t deny who we are as humans— messy, all loose wires, impossible to program. This is the lesson of this opera and one that I believe Jobs learned in his later years, before succumbing to what he termed ‘the single best invention of life’.” The opera achieved its goal. One might ask, however, to what purpose? So we can all hang our heads in resignation at our fate? Or to inspire us to cut each other some slack because we are all at the wheel of a car we don’t know and only partially understand. Mr. Jobs evolved as he created a revolution. Interestingly, all the characters were likable except Steve Jobs. At the end of the opera, I mainly felt sad for him and the people who cared about him, while still admiring his accomplishments; I turned on my iPhone as I left the performance.
At top, Steve Jobs (John Moore) relentlessly and abusively driving his team to create the user friendly device you can hold in your hand that can do everything. Photo by Scott Suchman; courtesy of Washington National Opera.
Mr. Campbell notes that the resonance of the opera’s message has grown over the years. I suspect that is true. The response of those whose lives overlapped with Jobs will be strongly influenced by how they feel about the man, the company, its products, and their impact on their lives. Future audiences may well connect with the opera as a study of what it means to be human and less as details about a celebrity they knew. Of course, right now the opera owes much of its popularity to the fame of its subject, so we will see how it ages. Overall, The (R)evolution of Steve Jobs is rich in subject matter, currency, storytelling, staging, performances, and entertainment value. I thought in failing to emphasize any single aspect of his life the opera had lower impact than it might have, but my wife disagrees and time will tell.
Finally, kudos to the Washington National Opera and the Kennedy Center for allowing the singers in their Cafritz Young Artist program to perform in the roles of their fully staged operas. Good for us, good for them! While I understand the desire to see the established star performers that WNO casts in their productions, the young artists offer an excitement of their own when you attend their special performance. BTW, if you have been bypassing the new, short operas of the American Opera Initiative each January, reconsider; the CYA singers will make you glad you did.
The Fan Experience: Washington National Opera scheduled performances of The (R)evolution of Steve Jobs on May 2, 4, 5, 7, 9, 10 with May 9 having a Cafritz young artists cast. The opera was sung in English with English supertitles shown overhead. The opera lasted one hour and forty minutes without an intermission. Pre-opera talks were offered one hour prior to showtime. The digital program book can be accessed at this link.
As a heads up, the new 20 minute operas of the American Opera Initiative frequently sell out. Get your tickets for January 2026 early, currently only available by subscription..
Parking in the Kennedy Center is typically plentiful at around $25 per day, with a small discount for Kennedy Center members when reserved ahead of the day. The Metro to Foggy Bottom and the free red Kennedy Center buses, from there to the Kennedy Center running every 15 minutes, are an excellent option. There is an advantage in getting there a bit early. KC frequently has multiple performances on its different stages overlapping that can create traffic jams and sometimes security checks when VIPs attend.
There are snack stands in the main lobby, and on the Terrace level, the KC Café offers food cafeteria style at moderate prices; fine dining is available on the Terrace level in the Roof Terrace Restaurant; a discount is available to KC members. Food and drinks except water are not allowed inside the opera house, but you can purchase reusable capped containers with your drinks that you can take inside. Take the container back with you on your next KC visit to get a discount on your drink.