Performer: Jim Findlay

It's not really an opera (or even an oratorio), but Ted Hearne's The Source is important and engaging.

David Lang’s new opera the loser opened the Next Wave Festival at the Brooklyn Academy of Music on Wednesday night, but simply lacked theatricality.

The ceiling at the Clark Studio Theater was hung with white gauzy curtains descending all the way to the floor. The wispy fabric served as dividers between four stages, on which were arranged different combinations of instruments.