Very, as it turns out. In a rock opera of their own devising, professors leave the lecture halls and take to the stage. The Playing God rock opera focuses on genetic selection and issues related to its commercialisation through means of 1970s rock music. And because it’s an opera, the elements of death and love are naturally present in the story.
Playing God show, Matti Häyry in the middle with his red suit as the crooked science merchant in the opera.
Matti Häyry, Professor of Philosophy from the Aalto University School of Business, and Tuija Takala, Academy Research Fellow from the University of Helsinki, are two of the individuals behind the opera. Häyry and Takala have written and composed the rock opera in cooperation with the opera’s drummer-songwriter Corky Laing. The Playing God CD was released last summer, and the opera will premiere in Finland at the end of March.
The rock opera is based on a book
Matti Häyry, how did a study in bioethics get transformed into a rock opera?
'Making music has been a hobby for both Tuija and myself for a long time. A few years ago, just after the publication of my book Ihminen 2.0, in a burst of creative madness, we decided to work it into a rock opera. Tuija’s cousin Krista Jaquet was there to help us in our endeavour. Finally, the music was recorded into an album using international musicians. The opera premiered last summer in Basel, in connection with an international conference on bioethics, and the feedback received was enthusiastic and supportive.'
The story takes place in an imaginary small town, where gene technology has, for a long time already, been used to select children, for the overall improvement of human beings and in the quest for immortality.
Science can provide interesting subjects for art
Häyry plays the main villain of the story, a crooked science merchant who has sold problematic genetic services to the town's residents. 'To learn what they are, you must see to the show,' Häyry smiles.
'Behind the scenes, I am also one of the show's producers.'
'We want to offer an entertaining piece of art to friends of classic rock, who are not afraid to use their brain a little bit. Our additional objective is to develop the performance, combined with various lecture packages, into a learning tool for bioethics for national and international distribution.'
According to Häyry, art can be employed in the teaching of science. 'Of course, the development of science also offers juicy subjects for art and entertainment, as is evidenced by our own production,' he says.
A tour in the US?
Naturally, for Playing God, the next aim is to conquer the world as whole.
'If and when we manage to find funding for the show, we must either do a series of shows in one place or organise a tour. For the moment, the most realistic plan would be a university tour in the United States. We may perform the opera in a meeting of the American Society for Bioethics and Humanities in the near future. There it could be seen by, at best, thousands of specialists in the field of bioethics, who could then request us to perform at their universities.'
Rock Opera Playing God![Playing_God_logo.jpg]( "Rock Opera Playing God logo")
The rock opera Playing God on 28 March at 19.00 at Gloria, Pieni Roobertinkatu 12, Helsinki. The opera includes musicians from the United States, the United Kingdom, Finland and Sweden.
The performance will be in English, and the lyrics will be projected onto a screen to make it easier for the audience to follow the opera. Tickets from EUR 19 are available at Tiketti
More information: Rock Opera Playing God and Matti Häyry, matti.hayry@aalto.fi