Opera: New Productions for New Audiences

When thinking of a stereotypical opera audience, the mind conjures up images of an aging, white-collar crowd. However, thanks to creative innovations by opera companies around the world, this gross generalisation is now far from reality. Inventive stagings, in-school programs and fresh new works are bringing opera to the younger generations, aiming to make the art form appeal to those of all ages.

Asking most school age children about opera will illicit blank faces or contempt based on out-of-date stereotypes. Children’s idea that opera is only for the old and wealthy means many of them reject the idea before even knowing what it is they are turning down. Companies such as the San Francisco and Scottish Opera, however, are working to change students’ perceptions by bringing opera to schools.

Children as young as six are being treated to stagings of famous works inside their classroom. These performances are often combined with an inside look at elements of the production including singing technique, costuming and stage presence. The San Francisco and New York Metropolitan Opera companies also provide downloadable performance videos on their website for study within the classroom. Operas available for viewing range from contemporary works such as John Adams’ Nixon in China to classics such as La Boheme and Carmen.

London’s Royal Opera is going one step further to pique students’ interest in the art form. The company is implementing a program pioneered by New York’s Met Opera in the eighties, which allows students to create their own music theatre piece. Working with teachers and performers from the Royal Opera, school children will be aided in writing, staging and performing their own new work. The program aims not only to expose a young audience to the joys of opera, but also to open their eyes to the wide range of careers available within the arts.

Today, opera companies worldwide are seizing the opportunity to cater to this new audience by regularly including children’s operas in their programming. London’s Iris Theatre Company, the Royal Opera and Opera Colorado are just a few companies to open up their repertoire to younger audiences, performing children’s classics including Humperdinck’s Hansel and Gretel, along with new works such as John Davies’ range of fairy-tale inspired pieces.  Meanwhile, the Toronto based Canada Children’s Opera Company features works for youngsters as a hundred percent of their output. The company regularly commissions new work and includes a children’s choir in each of their productions.

Of course it is not only children benefiting from this push to make opera accessible to everyone. One of the most exciting innovations in recent times has been the large number of location-specific operas being staged around the world. Site-specific performance has been growing regularly over the last forty years and was based around the premise of making theatre accessible to a non-elite audience. Whilst this is still one of the main aims of the genre- particularly in the arena of traditionally elitist opera- location-specific performance has also become a way for artists to ‘own’ a space and create a work that cannot be replicated.

Holland Opera is just one of the companies using location-specific performances to bring the art form to the masses. The company performs newly commissioned works- actively searching out composers with an ability to speak to a modern audience- as well as modern interpretations of the classics. Holland Opera is currently producing Chiel Meijering’s contemporary opera STYX. The work itself invites a wide range of audiences due to its combination of both classical and rock elements. Holland Opera’s production of the work is planned to take place in a disused factory, which will be transformed into the border to the Underworld. Audience members will be submerged in this eerie environment, allowing them to be fully drawn into the world of the opera.

The Soho Theatre in the UK went one step further for their 2011 production The Secret Consul. The production- a modern reworking of Menotti’s The Consul- was labelled a ‘guerrilla opera’ and held at a specific location in east London. Building a sense of mystery and intrigue before the show even began, the exact location was kept a secret until audience members had purchased tickets.

In 2010, Australian company Chambermade launched a program to literally bring opera into the homes of the public. Their Living Room Opera series was just that; a cycle of new operas staged in the houses of members of the public. Audiences would move from room to room with the performers, having the chance to be truly ‘inside’ the world of the opera.

Another Australian company, Opera in the Otways, uses the summer months to bring music theatre to beach goers. The troupe stages classical operas at locations along Victoria’s iconic Great Ocean Road, grabbing the attention of hoards of tourists. The company’s annual productions are invariably successful: rather than waiting for the crowds to come to them, they simply take their operas to the crowds.

The combination of multiple art forms is yet another way opera audiences are being expanded. London based Elastic Theatre is one such company working to bridge the gap between artistic disciplines. Through collaboration with companies worldwide, Elastic stages operas combined with groundbreaking choreography, musical improvisation and film.

Whilst there is little doubt that opera houses contain a generally older audience, the future of opera as a whole is positive. By breaking out of the concert halls and into the public eye, modern opera companies have ensured the longevity of their discipline. With a fresh, updated look and enthusiastic new audiences, opera seems poised to flourish for many generations to come.