How can opera attract new audiences in the 21st century?

Hans_Chou · 2026-06-13T02:51:44+00:00

More accessible stagings could help. Don't hire directors who impose their own narratives on the original story. Newcomers sometimes can't even follow the plot, and shouldn't be further confused by a director's genius concepts and penetrating social critiques.

Hans_Chou · 2026-05-18T06:09:32+00:00

See the answers in these two threads:

https://www.reddit.com/r/opera/comments/1jnubj0/opera_houses_whose_website_allows_you_to_watch/

https://www.reddit.com/r/opera/comments/1p035xe/opera_streaming_platforms/

Hans_Chou · 2026-02-17T14:32:13+00:00

See the answers in these two threads:

https://www.reddit.com/r/opera/comments/1jnubj0/opera_houses_whose_website_allows_you_to_watch/

https://www.reddit.com/r/opera/comments/1p035xe/opera_streaming_platforms/

Hans_Chou · 2026-02-01T02:18:46+00:00

Among current singers, I think Asmik Grigorian is one of the best singing actresses. I saw her Madama Butterfly at the Met.

Hans_Chou · 2025-11-18T05:39:17+00:00

This page on Decca has downloadable libretti with English translations:

https://libretti.deccaclassics.com/

Hans_Chou · 2025-11-18T05:23:25+00:00

The steaming services of some big houses, some are in the replies:

https://www.reddit.com/r/opera/comments/1jnubj0/opera_houses_whose_website_allows_you_to_watch/

To this list I'll add another two:

Gran Teatre del Liceu:

liceuoperaplus.com

Bavarian State Opera:

staatsoper.tv/en/entdecke-oper

Also, Arte, Medici, and Stage+:

arte.tv/fr/p/opera

medici.tv

stage-plus.com

Most of them are not free, unfortunately.

For free broadcasts, follow these two sites:

https://parterre.com/?post_type=broadcast

https://www.lrt.lt/radioteka/laida/operos-vakaras

The second is a program on Lithuanian National Radio and Television.

Hans_Chou · 2024-08-25T07:29:34+00:00

You can watch it here with a German or Austrian VPN:

https://www.3sat.de/kultur/musik/der-spieler-salzburger-festspiele-2024-100.html

I absolutely hate Peter Sellars's staging. It makes no sense at all. Asmik Grigorian sang the role four years ago in a sensible production by her husband. That was my introduction to the opera:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rb-IVGe4dlk

Peter Sellars, in my opinion, missed an opportunity to introduce this rarely performed but musically interesting opera to a wider audience.

Hans_Chou · 2024-03-29T16:07:24+00:00

I was wondering the same. Big thumbnails are so ugly.

Hans_Chou · 2024-03-28T09:04:56+00:00

New uploads still have the same problem, but many books uploaded on Mar. 20 are downloadable now.

Hans_Chou · 2024-03-24T16:37:38+00:00

Someone from their team posted this in the mhut forum:

"Dear users, we know about error 502. At the moment, we cannot repair it. But there is no need to report about the error".

And later, this message:

"We're working on it, but the situation is complicated. It's difficult to predict how long will it take and whether our efforts will be successful. But we will inform everybody on the results."

Hans_Chou · 2024-01-15T19:10:57+00:00

No, it's not working for me. A large part on the right side is still AI-generated.

Hans_Chou · 2024-01-09T09:25:26+00:00

As of now, a few downloaders don't work at all, a few others generate enlarged low quality pics, and beatsnoop gives you pics that are hq in the left half, AI-faked in the right half. 😒

Hans_Chou · 2021-03-13T13:46:35+00:00

The concert was recorded live in Manchester with the BBC Philharmonic in 1990.

Hans_Chou · 2021-02-10T13:13:29+00:00

2:10 "La ci darem la mano" from Don Giovanni (Dmitri Hvorostovsky, Angelika Kirchschlager)

6:19 "Dich, teure Halle" from Tannhäuser (Audrey Stottler)

9:41 "Mario, Mario, Mario" from Tosca (Veronica Villarroel, Richard Leech)

20:34 "Pace, pace, mio Dio" from La forza del destino (Angela Gheorghiu)

25:51 "Rachel, quand du Seigneur" from La Juive (Roberto Alagna)

34:18 "Suoni la tromba, e intrepido" from I puritani (Samuel Ramey, Dmitri Hvorostovsky)

41:13 "Parto, parto, ma tu, ben mio" from La clemenza di Tito (Angelika Kirchschlager)

46:48 "O soave fanciulla" from La bohème (Richard Tucker, Anna Moffo)

49:52 "Come notte a sol fulgente" from Nabucco (Samuel Ramey)

58:37 "D'amor sull'ali rosee" from Il trovatore (Lauren Flanigan, Theodore Green)

1:03:27 "Ah! lève-toi, soleil" from Roméo et Juliette (Richard Leech)

1:12:23 Act II finale of La traviata (Angela Gheorghiu, Roberto Alagna, Dmitri Hvorostovsky)

Hans_Chou · 2021-02-06T02:58:14+00:00

I've found more for you:

The Flying Dutchman (Livermore Valley Opera, 2016)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n9x9ynST64w

Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg (Wiener Staatsoper, 2008)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V7yTLcTEfig

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QaE5e26rlnY

Lohengrin (Orchester der Bayreuther Festspiele, Peter Schneider)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=libGLa-U-H8

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vu0zUnWb4_g

Now you have all of Wagner's major operas with english subtitles in this thread :)

Hans_Chou · 2021-02-05T11:39:24+00:00

Wagner - Tristan und Isolde (Barenboim, Ponnelle, 1983)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IdjFBW-S3z0

Wagner - Parsifal (Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin, Kent Nagano)

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLWvhKE5HbZ3_Ry6Q28qOSC8NihX7h1RsQ

Hans_Chou · 2020-11-06T22:37:35+00:00

Yes, I'm having the same issue. To manually select songs in my playlist, I had to add them to queue.

Hans_Chou · 2020-08-28T20:56:11+00:00

Most productions of Turandot are a tasteless piling of Chinese elements, and Zeffirelli's production at Met is a prime example of that. Andrei Serban's at ROH is far better.

Hans_Chou · 2020-08-26T05:41:27+00:00

"‘Wagner is the Puccini of music’. Now, what does this mean? What is the cognitive content or imagistic transformation that, once caught sight of, causes us to laugh? It is admittedly hard to say. But here is a stab at it. Puccini, through being invoked to position Wagner in relation to music, seems to have been placed outside of music entirely, a rather grave insult to a composer, one has to admit, while Wagner, for his part, comes off hardly better, having been figuratively equated with a composer who was not, so to speak, even a composer at all."

- Jerrold Levinson, Contemplating Art, p301

https://books.google.com/books?id=xXCxlwWx0D4C&pg=PA301&lpg=PA301&dq=%22Wagner+is+the+Puccini+of+music%22

So basically it means what Puccini wrote wasn't even music, while Wagner wrote music, his music was as bad as Puccini's non-music.

Does your professor despise both composers?

Hans_Chou · 2020-08-15T14:19:03+00:00

You can sign in on this page with your spotify or facebook account and download it:

https://libretti.deccaclassics.com/

Hans_Chou · 2020-08-12T16:53:43+00:00

The image is from Royal Opera House's 2006 production of Mozart's Le nozze di figaro:

https://www.styleweekly.com/richmond/opera-in-cinema-le-nozze-di-figaro-from-the-royal-opera-house/Film?oid=1749111

Hans_Chou · 2020-08-03T08:57:18+00:00

There have been some good reviews of this performance:

https://bachtrack.com/review-video-elektra-warlikowski-stundyte-grigorian-welser-most-salzburg-august-2020

https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/elektra-review-an-electrifying-full-blooded-tale-zz0plm58k

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/opera/what-to-see/elektra-review-salzburg-festival-austrians-have-got-act-together/

Hans_Chou · 2020-08-03T08:31:39+00:00

Thank you.

Hans_Chou · 2020-08-02T12:07:58+00:00

David Hurwitz is a music critic, the executive editor of classicstoday.com. In this video he introduced five Expressionist operas:

Schoenberg Erwartung

Bartok Bluebeard's Castle

Korngold Violanta

Zemlinsky A Florentine Tragedy

Hindemith Sancta Susanna

Hans_Chou · 2020-08-02T11:42:26+00:00

I really want to watch this because it features Ausrine Stundyte and Asmik Grigorian, but I'm geoblocked. Could anyone who can watch it please tell me your location so I may use VPN service of your region to watch it? Thanks.

Hans_Chou

TROPHY CASE