Did diversity kill opera in Philadelphia?
NewsA right-wing rant on the Federalist media site alleges that equality and diversity policies were the death knell for Philly’s progressive opoera company.
It’s a knee-jerk rant…. but it’s not entirely wrong about the money drying up:
…By dedicating classic arts companies to woke programming and ideology, they thought they had a path to relevance that would bring them larger and younger audiences as well as the funding they needed to continue operating.
But they were wrong. And the proof of their folly has just been delivered in the failure of Opera Philadelphia, the company that has been most invested in the concept that going woke would save classical music….
More here.
Good with a new audience but not at the cost of losing the traditional audience.
Oh, contemporary “music”, as well as wokery, is certainly embraced by the musical powers that be.
Here’s my question: Even after a sold-out premiere, and great hype, and hullabaloo, how many contemporary works are remembered after a decade?
Not a dime, no attendance from me, sorry. Quite the contrary.
Never mind, just replace the empty balloons with new ones, and keep pretending it`s all real.
I welcome new works. But I hate what they are doing to traditional works.
We’re really quoting the Federalist now?
Quite! I was appalled to be taken to that link. This just raises their profile. Very nasty.
What exactly is the problem with the Federalist? Or do you just oppose anything that isn’t supportive of Leftist/Socialist/Communist ideology?
Free speech is so over now. Can’t have that anymore. That’s why we have political officers aka DEI.
Can you please explain why you think that a bad thing? Or is it simply because you’re a bigot and ideologue?
Because they are Nazis.
They embrace free unfettered speech and expression. That’s not a Nazi trait. That’s a woke leftist trait.
Mein Fuhrer!
I’ll bet that’s exactly the reason.
Now that is a knee-jerk reaction.
“A right-wing rant” is an acceptable term among the enlightened elite, but there is no such thing as “a left-wing rant”.
If attempted, the term would be dismissed as “a right-wing rant”.
“We need discussions, we need to debate”. Sure…
The canary in the coal mine. Same fate awaits the whole of Lincoln Center.
It already has. They are racing to the precipice.
Yet we are told the new “woke” operas are selling like hotcakes at the Met boxoffice.
A full house is not necessarily a fully paid house; it is most probably (in the Met’s case these days) a reduced ticket price or papered house.
I would have more confidence if the Met disclosed the average ticket price per performance for one of the new works as opposed to a Puccini opera.
Those operas are selling well at their premiere seasons. The proof will be how they do when they are brought back. I have serious doubts about repeat success. TBD
The Met says a lot of things. Their bloated PR staff works overtime.
Opera Philadelphia was about 15th among U.S. and Canadian opera companies, with a budget in its FY 2020 of just under $15 million.
It was 48 years old.
Last year the 119-year-old Philadelphia Orchestra Association ended its own life, stewarded into a merger by its own CEO.
It had been the landlord of Opera Philadelphia.
The Philadelphia Orchestra Association ended its own life?
No.
It took over its primary venue, and got other venues in the bargain. If any entity ended its own life, it was Kimmel Center Inc.
Kimmel Center, Inc., made this “general statement of information” to the U.S. tax authority in May 2023 referring to its FY ended June 2022:
“The Philadelphia Orchestra Association (POA) and the Kimmel Center, Inc. (KCI) … entered into a
partnership and affiliation agreement on October 21, 2021, that will enable POA and KCI to operate in a strategically aligned and coordinated manner in order to create a more powerful and expansive
artistic footprint by establishing a new [tax-exempt] organization, the Philadelphia Orchestra and Kimmel Center, Inc. (POKC), to serve as [their] common controlling member/parent, with full representation from [their] existing Boards.
“The transaction was closed on December 2, 2021, and associated filings were made [the next day]. POA and KCI will remain separate legal entities, each operating as [a] tax-exempt [organization], and [will] continue to operate in accordance with and to further [their] respective tax-exempt [missions] and purposes. Each will maintain separate financial statements and perform an annual audit, notwithstanding that (sic) the parties’ financial statements may be consolidated with POKC’s. Each of the Orchestra and the Kimmel Center [will] continue to hold, manage, and use its endowed and otherwise donor-restricted assets (including those held by its respective subordinate organizations) consistent with the restrictions that apply to such assets and pursuant to the terms of their respective gift instruments.”
The May 2023 filing to the U.S. tax authority also states:
“Effective December 2, 2021, the POKC became the sole member of KCI and holds the rights to elect or appoint one or more members of KCI’s governing body.”
In other words, POA and KCI are wrapped into POKC which in turn is wrapped into KCI, the latter apparently existing at two levels of the new structure. And none of it is to be taxed because at least some parts of KCI, not its Broadway shows or other commercial activities, are not for profit, while its CEO enjoys annual compensation and benefits of $1.5 million. Those “some parts” may well soon embrace the now independent Opera Philadelphia.
If you want a progressive opera company to have success, you can’t operate it within major established venues.
The average young person will find sitting down for 3 hours too boring, and the average opera lover doesn’t respond well to progressive messaging. Opera Philly would have done better to bring this kinda music to smaller venues where the kids hang out.
It mostly did.
The trouble with smaller venues is that most of the same union rules apply, which make it unsustainable.
The truth hurts.
And the sane among us know that these moves would at best make no shift in attendance and at worst destabilize already shaky numbers.
DEI has good intentions. Karl Marx has good intentions.
Just a few years ago we were reading about cancelling Beethoven. This website was seemingly divided between no more Beethoven and keep the status quo.
There is a reason why great works have survived the test of time. Among all the symphonies of Haydn, Mozart, and Beethoven not all are equally valued. This is the nature of that time.
Richard Tarsukin wrote that before Beethoven, there had been well over 16000 symphonies written. Must they all be unearthed?
Some musicologist on a gravy train will get a research grant and go through every one of those now to weed out the disadvantaged by gender, physical handicap, colour and race. And we’ll all have to read about it in The Grauniad.
It’s called wokewashing. Large institutions make a ton of money on the exploitation of labour and people are catching on. It’s a good trick to throw some excess cash at these musicologists, turn to the public and say “look we can’t be THAT bad, we supported the work of a black feminist queer historian!” And then they call it a day. It’s annoying to everyone, including true progressives. I don’t want to be forced to perform music by Florence Price, who I consider a lesser composer, I want to work a title job in a major orchestra and be able to afford a house!
“By dedicating classic arts companies to woke programming and ideology, they thought they had a path to relevance that would bring them larger and younger audiences as well as the funding they needed to continue operating.”
Of course they were wrong. They tried to make themself interesting for people who have absolutely no interest in them, and ignored the people who were actually interested.
Job well done. Congrats.
Thanks for correctly labeling it – but I’m afraid it does contain kernels of truth.
Politics pollutes art. Programming on “racial” basis (like in Nazi Germany), or “proletarian” basis (like in the USSR) has nothing to do with artistic merit. Putting rubbish on stage for political reasons can work only with captive audience. Americans still have a free choice.
Classical music is an acquired taste. It is unlikely that people unfamiliar with it’s language will start attending concerts or operas just because the music had been written or performed by women, gay or non-white people. However, such a focus comes with a price that educated audiences are unwilling to pay.
In art quality reigns supreme. Sound is color (and ethnicity, and sexuality) blind. I would always like to hear the best performers. Would never opt intentionally for a lesser one, just because of political bias. Institutions define themselves by their preference. If politics takes precedent over art, it’s a political institution, not an artistic one. Very few people will look for the next Mozart in congress.
I am admittedly leftist, but find both problems and successes in efforts to recognize diverse composers. 1) I had never heard of William Grant Still or FlorencePrice until recently (probably in response to George Floyd). Their work enriches us both musically and historically. 2) but I also recognize DEI efforts can go too far, alarming or offending more traditional supporters. It’s great to get young people to respond, but they have neither the financial nor philanthropic experiences to take that responsibility.
We need BALANCE in our arts and our attitudes!
YNS and Gelb be warned…..the recent 60 Minutes interview with YNS or rather sycophancy, served as clear intention for YNS to embrace a community he knows little of. Champion and Fire Shup Up In My Bones may have filled seats, but both are immemorable, not great works – reviewers were too kind as they didn’t want to be seen to be politically unPC. Will those who came in their droves, to see these novelties and the maestro all dressed up to assimilate, be back? Doubt it!
Or maybe new yorkers’ tastes are just skewing more progressive? It didn’t work in Philly because let’s face it, the Philly public is still very much blue collar at heart. The opera-going class is small there, and usually consists of those for whom any sign of uppending the traditional cannon can be seen as a perceived threat to their standing in society. Philly, Cleveland, and Boston don’t really have a love of liberalism that permeates New York and Los Angeles. The proper audience for this aim would have been underground.
I thought YNS coming on for the 2nd act of Champion dressed as a boxer with robe and hood, making a fool of himself, was appalling. Especially as the work is a tragic story, not a farce. Disrespectful and clownish. And YNS doesn’t even know it.
I’d be interested to hear why this is considered right-wing or knee-jerk?
That seems to be the easy default criticism of the huge numbers of people increasingly tired of the DEI ideology and propaganda.
These ideologies have been promoted heavily but not exclusively by institutions that took their subsidies for granted enough to think they had enough licence to tell their public what to think. It turns out that ‘equality’ in reality means as Milton Friedman said 50 years ago “a and b decide what c should do for d” and it’s pretty much common sense to see that is only going to create more division.
The people who provide the funding are slowly putting their cheque books away. Even Disney found out the hard way. Is that all such a big surprise?
Major media outlets and other institutions in the U.S. – and perhaps elsewhere? – that are virtually entirely staffed by people on the Left have adopted the practice of labeling anyone who doesn’t go along with the woke agenda that these institutions push as “Far Right.” These same outlets virtually never use the term, “Far Left.” If one didn’t know better, they’d think that there is no such thing as a Far Left in the U.S.
It’s the media outlet The Federalist that’s considered right-wing.
The lovely Milton Friedman should be best remembered for his pivotal role in sponsoring a terroristic fascist military regime in Chile that tortured and murdered its political opponents in football stadiums.
Simple; anybody who disagrees with the Left – particularly the ubiquitous Far Left – is Alt Right or Far Right. That’s the extent of their sociological imagination; don’t even mention the absent economic one!!
Arrant nonsense. Mitt Romney, Chris Christie, Tim Scott, Nikki Haley — when the latter two aren’t pandering to the Trumpist base — are center-right figures, not at all alt or far right. And the far left is hardly ubiquitous; it’s just that the extremes make the most noise, these days, and noise brings ratings.
“Right wing rant……….” Oh, I forgot that anyone opposing NL views of the world is now designated as right wing. As many commentators have voiced “go woke, go broke”. At least it may save us having the drivel by Florence Price forced upon us in the name of diversity!
As far as NL is concerned; old man howls at moon.
Opera Philly is suffering from the same financial and contemporary culture-related woes facing numerous arts organizations today. In addition, as a newborn, Opera Philly is experiencing predictable post-partem problems which have nothing at all to do with DEI issues issues whatsoever. The Federalist, an ultra right-wing publication, always takes sadistic racist pleasure in citing the inherent difficulties facing new minority-focused enterprises and loves to scream that meaningless term “wokeness” by way of defending their own vile prejudices.
A complete projection of your very own!!
The company has been around for nearly 50 years. They just changed their name a decade ago.
The money was drying up anyway. The standard rep that Mr. Tobin seems to want wasn’t pulling in masses of grant money or audience members anymore.
Even if this sort of misguided repertoire succeeded in filling seats for a time, and the jury is still out, could anyone think that the people attracted to this repertoire, that is unfortunately assigned the loaded adjective ‘woke’ in this article, would develop the kind of institutional loyalty that has sustained the likes of the Metropolitan Opera and the Philadelphia Orchestra for more than one hundred years? Or if they would want to come back for more after the novelty has worn off?
He salutes them as “one of the country’s most progressive arts companies” then bashes them for being progressive?
Yes, because – like typical progressivism – it’s the one step forward/two steps backwards variety. How about a little bit of economic progressivism? You know, just for a change.
As Arnold Schoenberg once wrote: “If it is art, it is not for all, and if it is for all, it is not art.”
Maybe so — but the problem here, as I read it, is that the “all” are no more turning out for this politically-led effort than the traditionalists are. How to knock out two audiences in one go.
Such new music as I have come to enjoy is as a result of having been raised in, for lack of a better term, canonical music. I can apply my appreciation of the latter to the former, and if I find it interesting, or exciting, or challenging, it is because I can see what the composer has done to move music in a direction I may not have heard before.
The same appreciation makes me think that a lot of what is presented as mew music is just noise.
Is there any particular reason to write off the willingness to absorb quality on younger people, or minority people? The challenge is to draw them into the concert hall or opera house with the classical repertoire. The way to that is education and exposure, and when they have had enough of both they might well veer off in search of newer works — but some of them will be as captivated by the sheer soaring beauty of the older rep as those of us who have been at it longer.
That’s the only relevant comment that I have encountered in this entire string. Well done!
I followed the link, quixotically hoping for data from a right wing website; I should know better.
How many of Opera Philadelphia’s productions were what the Federalists would denigrate as “woke”? How many more standard fare? How did the attendance compare between the two? After the pandemic, the performing arts have struggled to regain audiences across the board, regardless of what they offer. How does the “Federalist” explain declining audiences for traditional productions of Shakespeare and Beethoven?
It could be that the increased emphasis on works by composers of color was a significant factor in Opera Philadelphia’s decline. But this article doesn’t even try to defend this thesis in any remotely data driven way.
“…But this article doesn’t even try to defend this thesis in any remotely data driven way…”
A peek at Opera Philadelphia’s YouTube channel hints at the wokeness referred to in the article. https://www.youtube.com/@operaphila
There you will find a cache of DEI marketing in the ‘Commissions’ and ‘Reflection & Re-Vision’ categories.
‘Opera Breakdown’ has videos by a musicologist who, according to her bio on peabody.jhu.edu, is “an interdisciplinary scholar and educator whose work focuses on the diverse ways in which operas are reimagined, adapted, and translated to meet the needs of new audiences”.
The bio for the Director of New Works describes her as having “… a formidable ability to cultivate and curate the unexpected, incite new ways of thinking, diversify the art and audience, and revitalize organizations with a global impact…”
Sounds pretty woke.
Sorry, guess I wasn’t clear. I don’t doubt that Opera Philadelphia’s repertoire featured a lot of music that people might describe as “woke”. What I am curious about is did this hurt attendance? Did they draw a larger audience for Verdi? And did it really hurt donations? Did important donors stop giving them money because they didn’t care to spring for new music by composers neither male nor white? Did their donations and attendance fall off more than comparable arts organizations that were not eschewing the usual standard masterpieces? And was this not ameliorated by other donors who may have liked a more “progressive” approach to repertoire? Your links do not address any of this. Nor did the Federalist piece.
I guess some people just hate that “woke” stuff so much that they don’t need no stinkin’ data.
To be fair, this was more of an opinion piece, and very few cultural commentators are good at finding and interpreting data. I’m also not quite sure where that journo could have found data on attendance/donations, but I might try and do some digging. If I find anything, I’ll respond to this post
Lebrecht cannot seem to make up his mind: one day he is excoriating the excesses of leftist wokism in classical music and then the next day he refers to a thoughtful article by Tobin on the same topic as a “rightwing rant”. I know it is difficult for a person whose DNA imprint is liberal-left politics to acknowledge that an article in a conservative journal reflects much of his own views, but show some courage and just observe that the Tobin makes many good points without reverting a leftwing trope in your click bait heading
Conservatives think the Left is wrong and misguided. The Left thinks conservatives are evil. ‘Nuff said.
Fundraiser here — the logic behind attracting young audiences is not because they think young folks will quickly become donors. Folks recognize that the folks with money to give are older. The hope is that if younger folks become fans, they’ll buy tickets, and eventually they’ll have money to give beyond a small gift now and again — from a fundraising perspective, it’s a super longterm strategy, but one that is echoed by colleges (lots of events for young alumni, who eventually might become grateful rich old alumni, as 80% of giving to colleges is by folks older than 60). So, growing audiences, yes. Expecting immediate fund raising results from the new audiences, not a factor.
I’ve worked with some of the largest performing arts organizations in the world. Long-term fundraising goals (generational) are rarely considered, only the fiscal year end.
Don’t be fooled into buying into that rationale for younger audiences as future donors.
But these target audiences are not coming. And donors are withdrawing.
OK, yes, a predictable rightwing tone, a disreputable publication — but those things don’t make it wrong. We classical-music folks need to stop and think: exactly WHY is our artform worth preserving? Because there is something inherently special about people playing violins or singing without mikes? OK, yes, for us there is — but that’s secondary. What’s primiary: while those ways of making music were current, a body of work was built up that still becomes meaningful for those who get to know it.
A “path forward” for opera that doesn’t put those works front and center is not just futile, it’s self-contradictory. What’s the point of inviting diverse and under-served audiences into the opera house if we’re not gonna show them the good stuff? If we try to “save” opera by making it more like the things they already like – well, they already know where to find those things; why should they come see us?
Disreputable? You have FACTS to back up that idiotic claim? Typical liberal attitude…
“Repute” is never a matter of facts; a publication’s reputation is the aggregate of people’s opinions about it.
The problem across the boards is that music-theater is so much better at doing what opera companies are attempting to do — and at a fraction of the cost. How many of these new “operas,” inspired by trends of the moment too-often in a thorny musical idiom that is problematic for singers, will bring audiences back for a second hearing? And even if those audiences do return, is there any reason to assume they will have any interest in sitting through a standard opera? Dubious.
I lost track trying to count the wokes in this insane article.
There is nothing ‘insane’ about this article at all; there is, however, a lot more truth than you are willing or intellectually able to process.
Not to side with either of you, but saying “intellectually able to process” is rather presumptuous. Personal attacks undercut your argument.
It’s naive and ahistorical to believe that Diversity First is going to create enough of a permanent audience to make up for the loss of opera devotees who know when they’re being gaslit. I suspect that these new audiences, such as they are, are extremely evanescent, wanting to be supportive “allies” but not really caring about opera beyond that.
Look, fair point. The decorum, aesthetic, and overall culture of opera just doesn’t appeal to younger audiences. Companies who are alarmed at the diminishing rate of grey haired audience members are grasping at straws, and they’re effectively trying to grab their share of a market that other art forms (sorry, but it’s true) do much better. You can have, for example, a museum exhibition of black artists paired with a DJ set and craft beer tasting and sell out instantly, because at the end of the day young people (I’m 29, I should know) look for experiences, and the thing that defines an experience worth living is the ability to share it socially with your peers. Classical music is just far too individualistic in its consumption: you go, you sit down, you shut up for 3 hours, then you leave. It’s not really the kind of event that makes young people feel like they’re going to have a great time. By contrast I’ve seen some chamber music nights that were marketed as a social gathering with a side of classical music, and those sell out like gang busters. I’m sorry, but opera, and orchestral music in general, just no longer represents the desires of young people, and the sooner we accept that the better it’ll be for classical music. It’ll have a chance to grow rather than try to shove it selves down the throats of audiences who’ve said “no”
The decline of Art begins with the validation of mediocrity.
How is that a right wing knee jerk rant? He’s spot on. I wonder if anyone at the Met is paying attention? I doubt it…….
I you have worked with the Met, you would know it is an echo chamber.
DIE…the cancer hollowing out western culture from within.
Gerry Feinsteen: “DEI has good intentions. Karl Marx has good intentions.”
Speaking of the phrase: “The road to hell is paved with good intentions.”
From things like culture-entertainment to places like cities (eg, Mr Sadiq Khan’s London, England, Ms London [yes, coincidentally enough, that’s her first name] Breed’s San Francisco, Calif, etc), the highway appears to have been coated with a very thick layer of social-political WD-40.
The headline and text above suggest that Opera Philadelphia was “killed” when in fact, a visit to its website suggests that it’s still alive and kicking with upcoming performances of “Simon Boccanegra,” “Madama Butterfly,” a production mashup of Handel and Monteverdi arias that earned critical praise at its Spoleto USA premiere, an unearthed opera by Joseph Bologne and the premiere of a new commission from Rene Orth. Hardly seems like offensive programming.
As Jonathan Tobin’s article in “The Federalist” noted, OP’s revenue shortfall led to a 20 percent cut in staff; but then, as slippedisc reported here on the same day, the New Jersey Symphony just cut 15 staff positions and curtailed its season for similar reasons – in this case, traditional symphonic sales are down.
But before we blame DEI concerns (as Tobin does by his philosophical inclination), how about acknowledging that you’ve walked right into a long-running American culture war that’s been waged viciously by “right-wing” politicians and commentariat for the last 40 years. Just two days ago, a book author visiting a 5th grade classroom in Georgia was expelled by the school principal for using the word “gay” in passing; the school authority didn’t want to run afoul of state law prohibiting the use of “inappropriate” phrases or lessons in front of young children. The Canadian government has just added to its list of travel warnings for visitors to the United States that LGBTQ citizens should be wary of states that have passed anti-LGBTQ laws (Florida, Georgia, Iowa and Texas – where I live – come immediately to mind).
It wasn’t so long ago (2006) that moderately right-wing voices used “gay marriage” as a wedge issue to drive their base voters to the polls to fight the “radical left-wing agenda.” Today, following the nationwide legalization of same-sex relationships (2003) and marriage (2015), the ground has shifted to trans rights and the teaching of minority perspectives in school. Recent laws in Texas and Iowa prohibit the teaching of subjects that might make students feel “bad” or “uncomfortable” about their history, for instance, the experience of Black Americans from 1619 to 1865, or maybe 1965 per perhaps 2020.
In America right now, there has been stepped up harassment and violence against Jewish, Asian, Muslim and Black Americans by “right-wing” haters, so if you’re going to take sides against “wokeism,” let’s be fully awake to whose side you’re taking.
Granting attention to new voices – neglected composers, artists, performers – who’ve been overlooked in the past — that’s a good thing, not a bad thing. Not all of that art is going to be great. Much of it will be fairly unremarkable. But there are pockets of brilliance in all sorts of surprising corners, and the joy of discovering something new and profound is an incomparable experience, no matter the criterion or rationale you base your search on, be it obscure White males or the alternative.
There is so much BS in Ellison’s commentary one does not know where to start. But one example will do. ”
“In America right now, there has been stepped up harassment and violence against Jewish, Asian, Muslim and Black Americans by “right-wing” haters”
This is an outright lie. Jewish Americans have been targeted primarily by Anti-Zionists on college campuses and religious Jews harassed by African-American street thugs in places like NYC. Crimes against Asians are mostly committed by African Americans in major urban centers. FBI stats prove this point. Violence against Muslims is rare unless you base your views on CAIR, a viscously Anti-Semitic organization.
Opposition to radical sexual indoctrination of elementary schools kids is not rightwing extremism. American text scores are at historic lows yet the left has clear other ideas about what young schoolchildren should be learning.
Back to more purely musical topics the next time
I wonder how many people on here will remember that Opera Philadelphia was a superb company which presented many interesting productions over the years and with major artists. Regine Crespin sang her first Countess in Pique Dame there,and opposite first class colleagues of that period – Steak Evstatieva ,Vladimir Popov and Lajos Miller. Jessye Norman sang Dido and Aeneas for the same company, Ermonela Jaho sang her first performances there of Butterfly and has gone to more than 200 performances of the role world wide. I recall Alain Vanzo as Faust, Diana Soviero and Carlo Bergonzi in La Traviata and much more.. Much of this was done when the company was run by an extremely courageous and imaginative person- Margaret Everett. And certainly there were productions of quality during Robert Driver’s years. Looking even further back,you will find the performances sung by Dame Joan Sutherland- Maria Stuarda for example,Renata Scotto in Tosca and as Anna Bolena which was a brilliant part for her and one I wish she had done much more often. And then there was Sills and Pavarotti in Puritani and so much more.When you consider this programming toward what has come in recent years, you can only feel sadness and regret.
Philadelphia Lyric Opera Company, and the Philadelphia Grand Opera Company, not Opera Philadelphia, for many years presented standard repertoire with outstanding casts: Jon Vickers and Crespin in Walkure , Sutherland in Norma, Scotto , Richard Tucker, Leontyne Price, Caballé, etc. etc. Philadelphia Lyric Opera and Philadelphia Grand Opera Co. went out of business in the 1960s and were succeeded by Philadelphia Opera Company which changed its name to Opera Philadelphia and which presents mostly Nashville casts at New York prices, and (some weird modern stuff.)
…”for many years presented standard repertoire with outstanding casts…You could recycle that phrase for the Met.
Byrwec Ellison: “Recent laws in Texas and Iowa prohibit the teaching of subjects that might make students feel “bad” or “uncomfortable” about their history, for instance, the experience of Black Americans from 1619 to 1865, or maybe 1965 per perhaps 2020.
In America right now, there has been stepped up harassment and violence against Jewish, Asian, Muslim and Black Americans by “right-wing” haters, so if you’re going to take sides against “wokeism,” let’s be fully awake to whose side you’re taking.”
——–
Opinions filtered through either a liberal-leftist or conservative-rightist prism can come up with some interesting ironies, hypocrisies, contradictions and inconsistencies.
Overall, people need to be upfront about their politics. They need to ask themselves exactly how honest, rational, sensible and ethical their ideology is. Or isn’t.
Oops, I guess there’ll be no more Butterfly or Turandot in Texas, Iowa, or Florida. Our world is getting smaller.
I would be interested in hearing music by Joseph Bologna. Sounds fascinating and doesn’t have to be programmed under diversity.
That article certainly doesn’t read like a “rant” to me but I gather that in woke world, anything that one disagrees with by a scintilla is a rant. Hence, to John Wilkes Booth, Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address was doubtless a “rant.”
That aside, at the Met, the new relevant operas, we’re told, have been packing the house. So maybe New York is luckier than Philadelphia. We’ll see.
Would you be interested in a bridge at wholesale price?
Once. They’ve been packing the houses once. Once does not sustain a repertory house, especially (frequently) at reduced ticket prices.
Diversity, Equity and Inclusion are the death of Excellence.
Neither “the death of” nor “mutually incompatible with.” But only “incidentally coincidental to.”
I don’t think Opera Philadelphia is on the brink of collapse. They’re cutting they’re budget in a tough time for arts organizations, not much different than the Public Theater or, speaking of traditional opera: The Met. COVID did bad things for live, in person performance, and there’s a period of adjustment underway. To blame it on contemporary works is ridiculous.
You wouldn’t go to a skateboard park and say “Hey, you kids need to add some ballet here to get the older people interested.”
But I have no idea what the diversity repertoire was in this case.
And it’s possible that this was a Hail Mary move in the face of already declining prospects.
Long ago SFO opera subscriber. The notion of programming operas that appeal to gay audiences (which ones don’t) must go back to Gaetano Merola at least. I have memories of Opera in the Park fifty years ago with gay men and elderly widows coming together.
Directly from the Federalist which has several axes to grind.
Oh, it was dead, then? I thought it just smelled like that.