Feb. 23 (Bloomberg) -- Olga Neuwirth, 38, arrived at Manhattan's Esperanto restaurant wearing sneakers, jeans and a fluffy sweater to talk about her opera ``Lost Highway.'' It's based on David Lynch's weird movie about sex, murder and a character named Fred Madison who mysteriously becomes Pete Dayton through a mental disturbance known as ``psychogenic fugue.'' The multimedia opera will be presented at Columbia University's Miller Theater today and tomorrow.

Hilferty: How did you cook up this idea?

Neuwirth: My first opera, ``Bahlamms Fest,'' was a surrealistic journey. And I was already obsessed with recollection and memory, how the past is engraved in your brain, and how to escape it or not. So when I was trying to find new material for the opera commission I received several years ago from my hometown of Graz, Austria, I looked to film. I love Lynch, and ``Lost Highway'' is about all the weird things a mind is capable of.

Hilferty: Like murdering someone, then entering an extreme state of amnesia to escape the situation?

Neuwirth: Yes. In the movie, when Peter Dayton hears in his head the sounds of the saxophone, it's a clue that he's really Fred Madison.

Hilferty: In your opera, he doesn't play saxophone but trumpet. Why?

Neuwirth: I used to play trumpet. And the trumpet is a great jazz instrument. I had to give up being the female Miles Davis when I was 15 after a car crash in which I lost my jawbone. That's why I became a composer.

Freaking Out

Hilferty: Can the trumpet go as crazy as the sax does in the movie, hinting at Fred's insanity?

Neuwirth: With the trumpet you can freak out. When I was recording these parts with the trumpet player, I was pushing him. He would start with nice lines, but then go into these areas with crazy noises.

Hilferty: Wait, you're not admitting to having a ``psychogenic fugue'' yourself?

Neuwirth: Who knows? While composing, I pushed myself to the edge, which was very frightening. It nearly killed me. I became Fred Madison/Pete Dayton. I didn't compose for three years after doing this. I had to confess a lot of things to myself that maybe I wouldn't have, had I not done this.

Hilferty: Are there live electronics during the performance?

In Fred's Brain

Neuwirth: Maybe too much! It makes the performance complicated. I wanted for the audience to sit in Fred's brain with his problem, a very jealous man. Fred and his wife, Renee, don't say much to each other, but the music played and projected between their utterances says a lot about their lack of communication. Something is wrong. In killing Renee, he resexualizes their relationship. This is interesting and important.

Hilferty: Lynch's film loops to the beginning, creating a kind of cinematic Mobius strip. Did this inspire your multilayered, labyrinthine musical structure?

Neuwirth: Yes. There are so many musical layers in the movie, including the music of Angelo Badalamenti. Then how the voices are used, from whispering to screaming to sounding like animals. I think Lynch created a musical form in film.

Hilferty: What are you working on now?

Neuwirth: I'm working with Canadian video artist Dan Douglas on a new version of Alban Berg's ``Lulu,'' which I've arranged for a Las Vegas ensemble. My Lulu, who's black, starts recollecting her past in 1950s Las Vegas. The second act takes place in New York in the '70s.

For tickets to ``Lost Highway'' call +1-212-854-7799, or see http://www.millertheatre.com. A recording of the opera is available from Kairos.

(Robert Hilferty is a critic for Bloomberg News. The opinions expressed are his own.)

To contact the writer of this story: Robert Hilferty at rhilferty@verizon.net.

Last Updated: February 23, 2007 00:01 EST