NY Times: 'Violet Fire' doesn't burn bright

Steve Smith of the New York Times isn't very enthusiastic about "Violet Fire," a new opera about inventor Nikola Tesla by composer Jon Gibson. (I confess I did not know who Mr. Gibson is, but the piece helpfully explains that he is a longtime member of Philip Glass' ensemble and "his own music has been built on a foundation of early Minimalism.") Mr. Smith finds the music "seldom sufficient to support the weight of Miriam Seidel’s weighty, wordy libretto" and complains about Gibson's "simplistic accompaniment."