Please describe Leonardo in the most succinct sentence or two. We have, thus far, been describing the work as exploring “Leonardo’s search for the soul” (his search for the actual physical location in the body), but please re-frame or build upon that.
Leonardo attempts to capture the essence of an extraordinary man – not by harping on his creations or innovations, but rather by focusing on his persistent questions and his keen observations of the everyday. Through his fascination with the mundane Da Vinci sought to understand the ineffable.
What attracted you to da Vinci as a subject? Leonardo was at the intersection of art and science, and the same can be said for you. Is this part of what drew you to him? And why do you think such a major figure in history has not been the subject of an opera before?
Da Vinci is simultaneously too huge and too banal for opera. He managed to avoid scandal. While, indeed, Leonardo’s embodiment of the convergence of art and science has inspired me deeply, it is really the ordinary that attracts me here. This was a man who purchased caged birds in the market only to free them.
How would you describe the music of Leonardo? Is there a main musical motif, and if yes, how did you arrive at it?
Leonardo uses a very short musical phrase – only a few seconds long – of a sacred work by Grancinus Gaffurius, a contemporary of Leonardo who knew Leonardo in Milan and was the likely subject of Da Vinci’s Portrait of a Musician. The reference is never explicit but rather provides an occasional quasi-Renaissance texture. Overall the music ranges from introspective to exuberant and attempts to capture Leonardo’s sense of wonderment.
Leonardo’s analysis of acoustics are thought to be among the earliest and most innovative. He was interested in sound waves, echoes, etc. Was this meaningful to you as you wrote the score?
DaVinci’s insightful observation (and sometimes incorrect hypotheses) about the nature of sound have spurred my interest in auditory perception and cognition. Although this is not the focus of Leonardo, his observation of the perceptual ambiguity and sonic complexity of a church bell is alluded to in the musical fabric of the piece,
Why/how did you choose the instrumentation you did, and can you say a bit about the different forces?
This is an embarrassing question. When the 92nd Street Y commissioned the work Hannah gave me free hand to select the ensemble. I literally chose my ‘dream team’ of musicians. I use the ensemble in multiple ways, occasionally orchestrally, but mostly as discrete chamber music units.
Can you say a bit about Tyler Duncan and your casting him in this pivotal role?
Around the time we were first discussing Leonardo, I heard Tyler sing Dichterliebe and was literally moved to tears. There was an intimacy that spoke directly to the sound ideal I was seeking in Leonardo – but then I experienced Duncan’s flair for theatricality and knew that this was an extraordinary artist who would deliver the wide range of music that I incorporate in the work.
Please say a bit about the texts. How did you select the ones you did? Our understanding is that every word is from Leonardo’s notebooks. Is there an aria that is at the center of the work?
The texts are all taken from Leonardo’s notebooks. Da Vinci posed basic questions which sometimes led him to deeply insightful observations. I integrate these questions gathered in bits and pieces throughout the notebooks to create a narrative about his search to understand the soul. Interspersed with this are excerpts from marginalia in the notebooks – literally reminders and to-do lists that underscore the simple and mundane side of the intellectual and artistic giant.
What are the key texts (or this works’ “Where in God’s name is the medic?”). Please share a line or two or three from the libretto that best capture what you want this work to express.
The opera starts with Leonardo’s question - Che cosa è starnuto – (What is a sneeze?) - a line that repeats during the work that, in its audacious simplicity, encapsulates that aspect of Leonardo that I hope to portray. The work ends with DaVinci’s observation, La natura è piena d infinite ragioni che che nò furò mai in isperiètia- Nature is full of infinite reasons yet to be experienced. ragioni a thought that completely captures the git of the piece.
Can you say a bit about how you approached the juxtaposition of the sacred and profane in the work??
The work ends with a musical reference to the fact that while Leonardo was painting The Last Supper he was also planning the pyrotechnics and costumes for a party in the Sforza palace. That literal juxtaposition is mirrored by the unspoken conflict Leonardo had in believing in the physicality of the soul while remaining a devout Catholic.
What will the audience experience in watching this work unfold? What will they see? What won’t they see? Please be as descriptive as you can about the visual elements, projections, etc. and what they are intended to communicate. How will notes and pages from a nearly 500 year old manuscript be brought to life? Will select texts in English translation be projected?
It is honestly too early for me to answer this – perhaps Gabriel could chime in here. My personal hope is that the visuals will transform simple abstractions to depict the sensuous delicacy of Leonardo’s drawings particularly of hands and aged wrinkles.
And what do you hope the audience will feel? What do you hope they might learn?
I hope the work will be subtly immersive – drawing the audience into the mindset and persona of Leonardo rather than the more typical representation of the mythic figure.
Is there an “essential truth” the work will reveal? Is there a central question (or questions) it is to leave us with?
Perhaps the ‘essence’ of the work is the importance of questioning. As our mothers always told us…there are no stupid questions…
What makes this story and Leonardo’s work relevant 500 years later? What are the greatest takeaways?
Leonardo was a complex person – as ready to design weapons of mass destruction as to create works of inexpressible beauty. Technology for him was a means to an end and not a means in itself. Above all, he retained an awareness of his own limitations and humility.
How have our ideas about the soul changed since Leonardo’s, and what role did he play in moving that thinking forward?
Alas, Leonardo’s search for the soul did not prove accurate. However this observations, dissections, anatomical drawings, and method of scientific inquiry transformed humanity. I don’t believe we have any more insight into the soul than was the common understanding during DaVinci’s lifetime.
And lastly, what would Leonardo think about smartphones? Would he think GPS could help us find the soul, after all?(!)
Leonardo would have been horrified by the noise and amount of time wasted on smartphones. While brilliant at aphorisms and concise description, I believe the concept of living through Tweets – particularly by the
leader of the free world – would have appalled him. I can only imagine him tossing Alexa and Siri into the Arno, exasperated by the thought that information and knowledge can be thoughtlessly acquired. GPS, on the other hand, would have thrilled him. 
(Also helpful to know the approximate running time of the work?).
About 70 minutes