Lost Highway started life as a David Lynch film, until 30-something composer Olga Neuwirth ripped it apart and put it back together as a multi-media operatic stage production with multiple video screens, live orchestra pumped through sound effects, and layered voices looped like a Mobius strip in surround sound. The daunting taks of producing the Oberlin production, a U.S. premiere that travels to New York in February, is in the capable hands of composer Lewis Nielson who serves as chair of the composition department and director of the Contemporary Music Division in the Conservatory of Music at Oberlin College. In front of the storied Finney Chapel on the Oberlin campus, Cool Cleveland's Thomas Mulready spoke with Lewis Nielson about the bizarre story line of the production, how Lewis and his collaborators created a giant movie/TV screen on stage, turing Finney Chapel into a surreal video concert hall, and how Oberlin favorably compares with NYC. Read Get discount tix to the Cool Cleveland party, which includes admission to Lost Highway, here. Attend the party for a chance to win a complimentary weekend in NYC here.

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