After seeing a lot of the Met's "Live in HD" series rebroadcast on the front of the opera house this week, I got to thinking....How do I feel about this "HD phenomenon" and how is it affecting the opera industry today? A lot of people boldly make the statement that opera is a dying art form....I whole-heartedly disagree, but that is not what we are examining today. I do recognize that much of the general public has never even seen an opera before, but are all of these HD broadcasts really doing all the justice that they are intended to?
For those of you not familiar with the Live in HD series (from the Met in particular), it is a series of live broadcasts from the Met (usually about 8 operas a season) that are shown in movie theatres all around the world. They feature Hollywood style "front row" camera work, backstage interviews with the stars and production teams, subtitles across the bottom of the screen, and much more....all for the reasonable price of about $20. The series started a few years back (I think 2006 was the first season), and has only continued to grow in popularity since then. These broadcasts frequently sell out pretty quickly, especially in more built-up areas. La Scala and Covent Garden also have similar broadcasts, although I believe they are somewhat less frequent.
As a singer myself, I absolutely support anything that helps increase the awareness and popularity of my art form. I strongly believe that through exposure, people will begin to appreciate what draws so many people to opera throughout their lifetime. In this vain, I am in total support of the HD phenomenon. My own mother goes to all the broadcasts down in Virginia. It has become another way for us to connect, as she wants to understand better what I am doing with my life (and hope to achieve ultimately). It has brought me so much joy seeing my mother go from never having seen an opera before, to now having seen Wagner, Strauss, Puccini, Verdi, Donizetti, Bellini, Massanet.....and the list goes on and on. She even has her favorite singers, can tell when people aren't singing well or even when they are singing rep that isn't well suited for them. All of this I attribute to the Live in HD series....she would not have had the consistent exposure and explanations otherwise. But what about the other opera houses that aren't the Met, Covent Garden, or La Scala? What about the little start-up companies barely getting by, but still doing very worthwhile work on stage and off?
A lot of these companies have closed in the past few years. Small programs, smaller opera houses, in this economy just simply can't make ends meet. We see it happen year after year, and it really is a problem that needs more attention than it has been getting. These smaller companies survive on the ticket sales and donations of its patrons to keep creating art year after year. Is the relatively new trend of seeing the opera at the movie theatre forcing these smaller companies to close their doors??
The American ideal is always "the bigger the better"...."get more bang for your buck"! That's what this HD phenomenon is capitalizing on....but I think it is absolutely necessary. In a way, I feel as though the opera industry absolutely does need to capitalize on the glamour and larger than life aspects of opera in order to peak the interest of a society that is so focused on those things. If we really are trying to expand our audiences for the long haul, we do need to hook our audiences, and learn how to keep them coming back performance after performance, season after season.
We have seen the "unthinkable" happen with New York City Opera most recently. While they are still afloat as a company, they have had to finally vacate their former home at the Koch Theatre at Lincoln Center due to financial shortcomings (their home for over the past 30 years). We have seen it coming for a few years now, so I can't say that we are terribly surprised. While this is a very recent and public example on a large scale, there have been countless smaller companies that operate on very small budgets that have closed down. Is this because of the HD?
Having gone to a few higher profile galas over the past few years, rubbing elbows with some more of the social "elite," I have had a chance to speak to not only the general public about this, but also some donors about this topic. One example that comes to mind in particular: I had a wealthy couple from DC tell me that they were so enamored with the Live in HD series at the Met that they actually pulled their money from their local opera house and started giving more to the Met. I was horrified by this. I did not feel it was my place to tell them how to spend their hard-earned money, but I don't think they really had thought of the repercussions of their action on that smaller company.
Now please don't think that I am, in any way, trying to paint the Met in a bad light. They are doing really fantastic things here. As I mentioned earlier, we are not just seeing broadcast after broadcast of standard repertoire, but pushing the limits of our audiences by introducing them to Strauss, Wagner, Massanet, etc. The Met is also filming a lot of operas that have never before been filmed, creating a visual legacy of a very important time in the life of opera. And lastly, they are creating a business return for themselves by releasing some of these titles onto DVD for sale, which all goes back into their production budgets. They are not animals, they are simply using their strengths to their advantage while also spreading opera to the masses.
Do I blame these "A" houses for the closing of smaller companies? ABSOLUTELY NOT! Do I think that they should stop filming their operas and broadcasting them around the world? Again, absolutely not. In a sense, I blame the audiences. Granted, not everyone who goes to these broadcasts understands how much all opera houses rely on the sales of tickets and of donations to keep their heads above water. Having said that, there are a lot of people who do, and who seem to turn a blind eye to this issue.
I urge the public to use these HD broadcasts for what I believe their intention was. Use these broadcasts to explore opera and fall in love with it. Push your limits and go explore the HD broadcasts to see operas you might not have seen otherwise. Find what you like and don't like, and then branch out again. Go online and find your local (or nearest) opera house. Buy a ticket or two to go see an opera there. While they may not operate on a $250 million a year budget, I guarantee they are still making very worthwhile art. While everyone likes going to La Scala or the Met and experiencing something on a majorly grand and over-the-top scale, there is something to be said for witnessing a truly committed performance by a little-known or unknown singer who is giving their all on stage in front of an audience of only 500 people or less.
In my opinion, I think we have seen an increase in interest in opera in the past few years. Much like the topic of this next generation of singers (in a previous post), I think that we will see a slow trickle-down effect in the years to come. I think that people are being initially enamored with the grandeur of opera, but with time some of them will certainly begin to see the beauty in much smaller-scale local performances. After all, we're all here to experience art, no matter how big or small. Life doesn't always have to be experienced under the "big top," right?
The schedule for the Live in HD series at the Met 11-12 season: http://www.metoperafamily.org/metopera/liveinhd/LiveinHD.aspx?source=hptab
The Met Opera Shop (to find DVDs of some of these performances): http://www.metoperashop.org/
The Met Player (think streaming live netflix for opera): http://www.metoperafamily.org/met_player/
No comments:
Post a Comment