The Cave

Minimalist composer Steve Reich and his wife, video artist Beryl Korot, gained notoriety in 1993 with their collaboration on the large-scale “documentary video opera” The Cave, which investigated the roots of Christianity, Judaism and Islam through the story of Abraham. Prerecorded interviews with men and women of the faiths involved were shown on an array of multi channel screens, together with location footage shot in the Middle East, while an ensemble of instrumentalists and vocalists provided musical counterpoint and commentary, the speech patterns of the interviewees providing the starting point for much of the score. The result was epic in its episodic transformation from performance art to a seeming intellectual communion of idiomatic symbols, each dissected to its basic profound meaning. This is not something that the typical opera lover expects to see, especially when certain stories examine the underlying question of human existence — whether or not we are to be held responsible for our actions. That being said, when you see a Reich/Korot collaboration be prepared to sit and wonder about the religious war between the human mind and the human G-D. Where technology meets imagination lies the artistic style that has branded Reich and Korot over the past few years. Steve Reich, an award-winning and groundbreaking composer, provides the music. Beryl Korot, an internationally exhibited installation artist and painter, provides the images. This creates a collaboration of intuition, depth and cooperation, all the while playing messenger to a new world which ultimately justifies their mission as artists. – PopMatters 2002