mpantone

jd_in_sb said:

2 years of preparation for a limited six-show run?

This about par for the course for the world premiere of a modern opera. All of it is new: music, libretto, production, staging, set, costumes, lighting, etc. It's not like the Santa Fe Opera has notes to refer to on how to produce this piece or has witnessed a different production elsewhere, like they would have for Carmen or La Bohème.

Six performances for an opera in a season is also pretty normal. Opera is very expensive to produce and if you can't fill the seats, you won't stay in business very long. Only a handful of opera houses in the world can support longer runs. Of course, it is easier to attract audiences with the most popular, crowd-pleasing operas like the two I mentioned. Most opera companies produce several operas in a season, some being very popular and accessible, others being a more obscure. 

For example, for the Metropolitan Opera's 2017-18 season, they have 15 performances of Puccini's La Bohème, 6 of Richard Strauss's Elektra and 8 of Thomas Ades's The Exterminating Angel, just three of the many operas that they will perform in the season; one can see the variability in number of performances per opera. The Met is one of the top opera companies in the world, with an large sophisticated audience to support that volume of performances.

The auditorium is underground. See this photo posted by drone videographer Duncan Sinfield.

There is no natural lighting in the auditorium. The circular building visible in the drone footage is the ground level lobby/foyer, sort of like the NYC 5th Avenue "Cube" lobby, but with no light going below.

It is unlikely that the auditorium foyer will have carpet. That would be very un-Steve-like.

llowejr said:

macxpress said:

Someone needs to clean off the solar panels...they're all dirty. Any volunteers?

Still can't wait until this is completely finished and the landscaping is all grown in. This is going to look stunning!

Don't the solar panels need to be cleaned regularly to keep up efficiency?  That seems like it will be a ful time job there!!!

Researchers at UC San Diego don't seem to think it is worth it.

randominternetperson said:

I wonder what's so "historic" about that barn.

A quick Internet search led me to several articles that explain it:

http://appleinsider.com/articles/14/12/29/apple-to-keep-century-old-historic-barn-on-campus-2-grounds
https://www.macrumors.com/2014/12/29/apple-campus-2-historic-barn/
http://www.mercurynews.com/2014/12/26/apple-to-save-historic-barn-on-site-of-new-cupertino-campus

Basically, it's a barn that has been on the property for a century. Steve wanted to keep it to pay tribute to the area's rich agricultural history.

randominternetperson said:

Anyone know what the giant tower machine with "Gartner" branding is at the 3:18 mark in the video.  Surely it's not the Gartner of IT advisory services fame/infamy.  But what's it for?

Gartner KG is a German-based transportation company. They are assisting in the transportation and installation of the curved glass panels that were manufactured by sedak GmbH & Co. KG (a.k.a. Seele), based in Bavaria, Germany.