Exclusive: Listen to Breaking Bad — Ozymandias the opera

21 February 2014, 16:35 | Updated: 18 September 2014, 15:54

Listen to two arias from the Breaking Bad opera by Sung Jin Hong, premiered in New York City last month.

Composer Sung Jin Hong is so addicted to Breaking Bad, he decided to write an opera about it. After the success of the cult TV series, it's not surprising the opera itself attracted a mass audience, with lovers of Walter White and Jesse Pinkman queuing round the block to catch a glimpse of the musical spectacle.

After interviewing Sung Jin Hong ahead of the performance, we couldn't resist having a listen to the finished product.

Sung Jin Hong's opera "Breaking Bad — Ozymandias" is inspired by the award-winning drama conceived and created by Vince Gilligan and the sonnet by Percy Bysshe Shelley. The libretto is compiled and arranged by Sung Jin Hong. "The Moment" aria is inspired by season 3, episode 10, "Fly," written by Sam Catlin and Moira Walley-Beckett.

Breaking Bad - Ozymandias: The Moment

Lyrics:

That was the moment
that night
I should have never left home
Maybe things would have...
I was at home watching tv
Skyler and Holly were in another room
She was singing a lullaby
Ah
If I had just lived right up to that moment and not one second more
That would have been perfect

With its spiky string melodies and eerie harmonies, 'Chemistry' gradually grows into an all-consuming orchestral movement with percussion and dissonant brass chords.

Breaking Bad — Ozymandias: Chemistry

Sung Jin Hong: from "Chemistry" and "The Moment"  Breaking Bad — Ozymandias (2014)
One World Symphony
Sung Jin Hong, Composer-Conductor
Jose Pietri-Coimbre, Walt/Heisenberg/Ozymandias
from live world premiere performance, January 2014, New York City