Saturday 30 October, 1.30pm until 3.00pm, Henry Moore Gallery
Although a night at the opera can be cheaper than a day at the races or at a Premier League football match, it is still often decried as a slightly curious indulgence of the rich and elitist. Many are not quite sure just what opera actually is: a peculiarly camp form of classical music, stylised musicals for the posh, or just something that allows people to feel superior by listening to something in a language they (or we) can’t even understand? Opera today has a question to answer in terms of just what it is that makes it valuable. Against a backdrop of deep cuts across arts funding, has opera a particularly strong case for the defence in comparison to, say, fine art or indeed street dance?
Some defenders of opera make an appeal based on its continuing relevance to contemporary society and even its value in educating and integrating the young through various forms of outreach projects. The success of tenor Paul Potts on Britain’s Got Talent, or of the other reality TV show From pop star to opera star, reveal a potential for crossover, while various ‘street opera’ or ‘flash opera’ initiatives have helped overcome opera’s stuffy reputation. Few, however, are really comfortable with explaining just what the value would be in giving up the fame and riches of pop stardom for the arduous training and – for most – relatively impecunious life of an opera singer. The obvious appeal of being a musical star on TV is rather different from a self-sacrificing dedication to one’s art. And as for the audience, why would anyone want to sit and watch an opera all the way through rather just than listen to ‘Nessun Dorma’ on a greatest hits CD? After all, one can thrill to the beauty of the music yet be blind to the (often silly) storylines or stylised spectacle.
But does opera really have to be ‘relevant’? With music, singing, the libretto, the drama and spectacle, opera is a unique synthesis of artforms meant to give voice to what is inexpressible in our existence. That makes it hard, at first sight remote and certainly not easy to digest at first sitting. But not necessarily unworthy of the attempt, even without sugaring the pill. So, is opera worthwhile in its own terms, or should it be forced better to justify its existence? Is it unpopular precisely because it seems so hard to make a case for its relevance? Should we make room for an artform seemingly marked by pretentiousness precisely because art is supposed to take us beyond the everyday?
Listen to session audio:
John Berry artistic director, ENO | |
Dolan Cummings associate fellow, Academy of Ideas; author, That Existential Leap: a crime story (forthcoming from Zero Books) | |
Nikola Matisic opera singer and pedagogue; founder, Operalabb | |
Matt Peacock founder and CEO, Streetwise Opera | |
Penny Woolcock writer and director, documentaries (On The Streets), films (Tina Goes Shopping) and operas (ENO's Doctor Atomic and Pearl Fishers) | |
Chair: | |
Angus Kennedy
convenor, The Academy; author, Being Cultured: in defence of discrimination |
Where is the audience? It’s a question that eats at every art institution in this age of austerity. Maybe opera houses feel it even more keenly than others: acutely sensitive to accusations of elitism and snobbery.
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Alexandra Coghlan, New Statesman, 16 June 2010The Pearl Fishers isn't the most PC of operas but that doesn't mean we should dismiss it
Penny Woolcock, Independent, 1 June 2010Robert Thicknesse's criticism of opera confuses the luxurious fripperies that surround the spectacle with the thrilling, life-changing art at its heart
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Tom Service, Guardian, 2 March 2010As celebrities are taught the basics in ITV's latest reality show, devotees say the programme cheapens and exploits the genre
Andrew Johnson, Independent, 18 January 2010The performing arts are moving out of their quirky corner of social policy and being taken seriously as a method to improve the self-esteem of young offenders
Rowenna Davis, Community Care, 16 December 2008In last week's G2, Joe Queenan claimed new classical music is 'torture'. John Berry, artistic director of English National Opera, speaks for the defence
John Berry, Guardian, 16 July 2008As Man stands to Nature, so stands Art to Man. When Nature had developed in herself those attributes which included the conditions for the existence of Man, then Man spontaneously evolved. In like manner, as soon as human life had engendered from itself the conditions for the manifestment of Art-work, this too stepped self-begotten into life. Link downloads a .pdf
Richard Wagner, translated by William Ashton Ellis, The Wagner Library