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| ‘ELIXIR OF LOVE’: Gaetano Donizetti’s comic opera about a young man’s belief in the power of love is playing at the San Francisco
Opera with a special night reserved for high school students. Courtesy of Terrence McCarthy/San Francisco Opera |
Opera reaches for new scale
Old art form is flourishing in US as new opera companies open and works are premiered.
from the November 14, 2008 edition
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A sample of 'Batter, my heart' from 'Doctor Atomic,' an opera composed by John Adams. Used with permission.
Lifelong Angeleno Vicky Waldman says the event, which aired at 10 a.m., allows ordinary folks with modest means to share in one of the most expensive art forms. "This way we can indulge ourselves for every performance," she says, referring to the $22 ticket price in contrast to $100 and up opera houses charge.
The urgency of remaining relevant to the next generation of potential patrons has led to many community-based initiatives around the country.
Some responses suggest opera can be a tough sell. "My mother made me come," says 14-year-old Nick O'Shea standing on the San Francisco Opera steps and whose rumpled clothing hints that he would prefer to be elsewhere on a Saturday night.
Others in line say they're willing to give the opera a chance. As director of the newly created education division within the San Francisco Opera, Ruth Nott says finding ways to engage this generation is a challenge. "They have so many options for their time," she says, adding that the company will expand its website with such features as audio and video downloads. "These are the ways this generation shares and interacts with entertainment."
As evidenced by the subscribers who turn in their tickets rather than attend an unfamiliar work, outreach efforts do not speak to everyone.
Some critics argue that certain strategies undermine the essence of opera. Too much electronic enhancement takes away from the human voice which is the soul of opera, says Thor Eckert, the professional development coach at the Academy of Vocal Arts in Philadelphia, and former opera critic for this newspaper.
More critical though, he says, is the dumbing down of repertoire and declining vocal standards. Popular opera singers such as Andrea Bocelli do not help the public understanding of the qualities of a well-trained opera singer, he says. "It may sell CDs, but [it] is not a real opera voice."
As history has shown, fertile periods have their own value, says Ms. Dunton-Downer. "It takes many operas to create a few great ones."
Opera has its own power to persuade, as the teens streaming from the performance of "Elixir of Love" make clear.
"I love that it's all sung," says 16-year-old Clare DeZutti, for whom this is her second opera. "There's really nothing else to compare," she says. "I like it because it's so well, primal."
Berkeley, Calif. - Often called America's greatest living composer, John Adams says he wrote his memoir, "Hallelujah Junction: Composing an American Life," for the next generation of musicians, the 20-year-olds struggling with doubt about the viability of a life in art. The Berkeley-based musician wants them to know it is possible to survive the drubbings of a pioneer relatively intact. "We ignore the good reviews and fret about the bad ones," he laughs.
But he understands that he is trying to move an art form forward, one that often finds itself mired in the past. "There are many who just want to experience the old chestnuts and don't want to see opera as a living art form," he says. At the same time, he say she has great optimism about the future.
"This is a potentially transformational generation," he says, pointing to the profound changes that have taken place during the arc of his career."Back when I was just starting out, if I wanted to listen to music from Bali or Ghana or Turkey, I would have had to search out anthropological recordings or go to the Library of Congress." Now, he says, the group of emerging young musicians can tap into musical influences from anywhere in the world at the click of a Google search.
He expects a stylistic revolution to arise from this access because, as he points out, the defining contribution of 20th-century composers such as Stravinsky, Copland, and Bartók was their ability to expand the musical palette beyond the established canon. While a wide range of influences is valuable, Adams says, he is most moved by "sincerity."
He shares the concerns of many about the lack of musical education in US elementary and secondary schools, as well as the short attention spans that can derail both the ability to absorb musical art or deter the creation of meaningful work.
He points to his own recent encounter with a team creating musical clips for YouTube. After he "sketched" a piece for them, they sat down for what he called his "first product evaluation." He says they were not happy with what he'd written.
"Iasked them what they expected, and they responded that they wanted something classical, something with a nice melody like Mozart." And "to the point." Visitors usually don't stay longer than half a minute, he says. "I'm working on an art form that requires sustained concentration and that creates cognitive dissonance in a YouTube environment."
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