“Arriving at each new city, the traveler finds again a past of his that he did not know he had…” If you commute through Union Station on certain nights in October and November, expect to see more than the usual quotient of random wanderers with thousand-yard stares who seem to be hearing voices in their heads. But don't worry, it's not a communitywide nervous breakdown; it's the intrepid audience for Invisible Cities — a site-specific opera at downtown's Union Station performed for a free-range audience via wireless Sennheiser headphones. From the creatively fearless minds who brought you last year's avant-opera blockbuster, Crescent City, comes a new work adapted from the 1972 novel by Italo Calvino. But where Crescent City commissioned monumental set pieces from a group of contemporary visual artists, Invisible Cities takes its inspiration from the storied history and evocative architecture of the real-life landmark where it unfolds. In Calvino's novel, a youthful Marco Polo attempts to cheer up an over-the-hill Kubla Khan by regaling him with epic tales of Polo's own travels, describing cities of the past, present and future; the real, imaginary and the longed-for. Composer/librettist Christopher Cerrone and director Yuval Sharon, along with a host of visionary collaborators and gifted musicians and performers from the Industry, L.A. Dance Project and their extended creative family, use Union Station's historic crossroads as not only the setting but an integral part of the narrative, as audience members immerse themselves in a “private” performance in the most public of spaces. 800 N. Alameda St., dwntwn.; Sat., Oct. 19-Fri., Nov. 8, 7:30 & 10 p.m.; opening-night gala $150 & $300, thereafter $25-$75. (718) 812-9159, invisiblecitiesopera.com.

Thu., Oct. 17, 5 p.m.; Saturdays, 7:30 & 10 p.m.; Thursdays, 7:30 & 10 p.m.; Tuesdays, 7:30 & 10 p.m.; Fri., Nov. 8, 7:30 & 10 p.m.; Fri., Nov. 15, 7:30 & 10 p.m. Starts: Oct. 17. Continues through Nov. 12, 2013

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