OPERA NEEDS A PITCHFORK

Haven't posted in a little while, having realized that the end of opera season wasn't maybe the optimal time to start an opera blog, and also having realized that when opera season ends there isn't a lot to say about opera from the upper-midwestern United States. Alas, Vienna would be a wicked commute.

It's also a commentary, though, on how little new is being said at any given moment about opera, period. I'm not merely talking about how the same 200 operas are stuck on permanent worldwide shuffle. I'm also talking about how opera doesn't translate well to the Webbed world rising around us. Opera on .mp3 is like fine dining with a cold. The spectacle of the opera stage is made for IMAX, not YouTube. And opera critics tend to go on as long and obliquely as some operas themselves.

Some of this will never change, and what opera fan would want it to? I love that opera rewards showing up in person. I love that it brings people with a common interest together face-to-face, under chandeliers. I love that the opera house is the one place left where no one divides their attention between the world and a smartphone. Including me.

But I find myself starving for more contact and community on the 300-plus days a year when I'm not going to an opera or shelling out 50 downloads' worth to buy one on CD. Would that there were enough new opera to sustain a site like hipster-music haven Pitchfork, with its carnival midway of reviews and streams and clips and news. Or a global broadcast outlet like Minnesota Public Radio's The Current, which is revolutionizing popular music by letting it be supported by listeners, as opposed to advertisers and market-driven programmers. Suddenly pop music has a chart again, instead of endlessly recycled "classics." Endlessly recycled classics...what does that remind you of?

Until opera itself begins to expand again - and I remain almost moronically optimistic about that - maybe it would behoove opera and its fans to jump on the technological wave and mix more boldly with the broader musical and artistic world. Having been turned on by a friend to The Current, I've been amazed at the richness and integrity and theatricality of the newest musical forms. Which might mean that world could be amazed by opera too. I mean, they play Rufus Wainwright on The Current, and he composes opera. Is that a glimmer of an actual opera future?

I intend for this humble site to be not only about opera, but also about bringing an opera sensibility to all the music and culture and art at our dancing fingertips. And vice versa. This is no Pitchfork. But it's worth a stab.

Comments

[All Time Coloratura]

Seems like there's some opera malaise going around...

http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2010/may/27/falling-out-of-love-opera

200 operas on worldwide shuffle? It's even worse than that, I think. I wouldn't be surprised if the 50 most popular operas accounted for 90% of all performances.

I see no reason for ennui, though. Even if I get sick of Madame Butterfly sometimes, I'd be sad if opera houses stopped programming it. And I think there's a lot of new opera being created, even if it sometimes goes under a different label (like "musical" or "performance art" or what have you).

Nothing replaces going to see opera live, but in my experience the internet opera community is very intense, and very open to new works. I enjoy reading parterre.com, even when it's very NYC-centric and detail-obsessed, because they bring a very irreverent sensibility to opera criticism. And, I think there's a wider variety of opera being shown now than ever before. 50 years ago baroque opera was almost never performed; now it's in regular rotation. Dusting off Massenet's back catalogue is a good thing. And a lot of capable directors are serving up the classics in interesting ways.

Back when I was getting into opera as a teenager I'd hear about Maria Callas' legendary Tosca and hope that maybe the arts channel would show clips on TV one day. Now I can find those clips on YouTube, along with scenes from productions all around the world. I'm finding it a very good time to be an opera lover.

I like your idea of bringing an opera sensibility into the culture at large. Please keep blogging; you have very interesting things to say.

[Gordon Smith]

Hello,
I totally agree about mp3 opera. Very nasty!
But technology can bring a satisfying opera experience. And indeed open it up to huge audiences as demonstrated by the Met's HD Live initiative.
Actually, we are doing our small bit as well to make opera more widely known in our "Personal Opera House" that regularly showcases HD productions to a small jury, which subsequently comments on them and gives them a rating. Have a look at our site: www.operadou.info for more information about this initiative.