Opera films in airports? Coming up
NewsA company called Stage Access, which has an archive of opera films, has joined up with the sports channel ReachTV to feed culture to ‘2,500+ screens in 90 U.S. airports, as well as 500,000 hotel rooms across North America’.
From the press release: Stage Access is the only company to distribute, license and produce classical arts content, with the streaming service called Stage Access at its core. The company also has a theatrical relationship with IMAX, which is releasing the critically acclaimed Renée Fleming’s Cities That Sing: Paris in IMAX and standard cinemas in August, followed in September by Renée Fleming’s Cities That Sing: Venice.
There ought be a film named: “Renée Fleming: People That Should UnLearn To Sing The Blues“. Meanwhile, we see that she and her publicity agents continue the shove her down the collective craw so as to appeal to the cheesiest lowest common denominator. Considering how low airports and air travel in general have descended, they have at last found their match and hit their target.
Remind me to bring my earplugs next time I go travelling.
Well this should do wonders to build audiences for opera. Not!!
You would rather nobody except those who appreciate and understand it get to see it?
Soon opera will be as ubiquitous and meaningless as Muzak. Coming soon to an elevator near you.
For the majority it already is, if you hadn’t noticed. Any exposure can only be helpful! Whether it suits the opera snobs or not, some people might discover opera and singing that way. You never know!
With the flight delays, you may be able to squeeze in an entire Ring.
The fact that so many people think classical and opera are so precious is exactly why it has continued to die. Rock, pop, country and even Christian music videos are routinely featured in public spaces. It’s about time classical gets that kind of exposure. You may think this is a bad idea. I think it’s a great one.
I think a chippy attitude to so-called elitist music has more to do with it.
However, I fully agree with the second part. People can’t acquire a taste for something they never hear and, by and large, they aren’t.
Soprano Pretty Yende reportedly was so inspired by a commercial for British Airways that featured the “Flower Duet” by Lakmé, she abandoned her planned career as an accountant and took up vocal studies. That may not make up for BA’s treatment of stowed violins, but you never know where or how inspiration is going to strike. The airport might just be the right place for classical music to take flight and soar.