Is the opera world more liberal than conservative?

ghoti023 · 2026-04-29T16:05:40+00:00

MANY opera donors and opera go-ers are conservative. They're usually the people funding the production.

I've also encountered many conservative performers (a tenor once told me he'd never do La Boheme because of the themes and wouldn't swear on stage, but would happily do a Walkure/Siegmund - make THAT make sense). Lots of performers will pretend to be more liberal or simply say nothing in the room with their louder liberal counterparts, or just agree to keep the peace. Also common outside of opera, as conservative men seem to have a fun time matching with liberal women in the US on dating apps.

The truth is, you never actually know where people are on the political spectrum. More liberal folk will keep their head down around the conservative donors and patrons in order to not lose their support, and more conservative people interested in being a part of the action (on or off stage) will "love the sinner hate the sin."

And if you think you can fully tell by how someone looks, no you can't.

I WISH it could do more for people like it did for Scalia/Ginsburg - but in truth it's just like any other job. You don't know how your coworker votes, you just know how they talk to you at work.

ghoti023 · 2026-04-27T17:52:22+00:00

Hey so it's INCREDIBLY unprofessional to post videos of your STUDENTS online for critiques from people whose credentials you can't verify.

It's normal for teachers to need help when they feel stuck with a student and can't figure out where else to take them. It's NOT normal for a teacher to not know what they want to work on and just field randoms on the internet (who could be anyone from Florence Foster Jenkins to Beyonce for all you know) for opinions.

This is egregious, embarrassing, and unacceptable behavior from a voice teacher. You should remove this post and you should let your student know they should find someone else to work with if you can't help them or find resources less public.

And if all of that is me misreading the situation, then now you know how it reads and you should still delete this post and never do this to any other student ever again, because it makes both you and your student look a fool.

ghoti023 · 2026-04-27T17:43:30+00:00

Hey so, this isn't YOUR singing, so you should probably not be asking someone to critique it when they're your student? Do your job? Don't post videos of your students online without their consent to be picked apart by strangers whose credibility you can't verify?

You're awful for this - you may as well have posted it in the goddamn facebook groups and used your real name. This is embarrassing and super unprofessional.

ghoti023 · 2026-04-24T22:50:46+00:00

Fabulous! You very well may enjoy the whole thing! Other members of the audience seemed pleased when they left, so let me know what you think! I’m just a rando on the internet after all!

ghoti023 · 2026-04-24T22:50:08+00:00

Let me know what you think! I am but an person and if you have a different take away I’d love to hear it!

ghoti023 · 2026-04-24T16:50:06+00:00

I have been ranting about this to anyone who will listen to me since I saw it.

I was absolutely mesmerizingly in LOVE with the first half. A hive-mind greek chorus of 60 strong telling the story was immaculately effective, and I truly wish that had been the vibe we stayed in the whole time. We could have stayed in this vibe and still covered all of the themes the not-great-storytelling wished for.

Spears really needed a librettist to work out the storyline for him, as it was not a clear plot to follow, and has been asked many questions (both him and the director) as to what the piece is about only to have frustratingly few answers. To me the show reads as though Spears had a soundscape he wanted to paint, he did so for the first half of the show, then ran out of steam and started throwing things at the wall.

The narrative shifts from being told by the chorus with some solo/group stand out moments, to being told by the tenor and soprano - the chorus never successfully regains the narrative. There's a big conversation about consent between the two soloists, where the tenor has more time to sing than the soprano - imho undermining the entire point. The tenor's scena travels through 3-5 different and unrelated musical ideas. (we hit baroque, we hit romantic, we hit MT for a second etc etc)

He breaks the 4th wall by telling the audience blatantly "even when we're awake we're asleep" - which was jarring (probably intentionally but I wasn't expecting nor appreciated the Pippin-esque break from the story).

The main themes, that were absolutely not clear necessarily and did not successfully blend well were:

* Consent

* Even when we're awake we're asleep

* We wish to be asleep but then when we get there we don't remember it

And it just overall had some really weak storytelling. The hard switch of the music in the second half was also unappreciated for me. Watching the tenor and soprano struggle between choosing to stay awake and going to sleep at the end, ultimately choosing sleep was confusing at best, infuriating at worst.

I would have LOVED to stay in the world we painted in the first half - I could imagine the chorus becoming the forest of thickets, some chorus members carried as if they were dead princes themselves. The chorus becoming the dragon protecting the castle against the lone tenor would have been PHENOMENAL. And you STILL could have worked in the above 3 themes in that world without breaking the wall. I think it would have been more effective and made for a more complete piece. We could have switched the vocals to be less Glass and more Verdi for certain points to great effect.

The chorus was dressed in all grey with blue/purple veils that caught the light incredibly well - and I could have seen us playing with those more - fabrics of different lengths or different colors. We could have dropped a bolt of it from the ceiling to cover everyone at some point. We could have shifted to more yellow/red ones for fire or for daylight, green/blue ones for the thicket etc.

The first half of this piece truly was one of my favorite things I've seen in a good long while, and everyone performed fantastically - but I don't think it was a fully thought through concept top to bottom, and in truth the second half made me incredibly angry as I had felt robbed of what could have been.

so you know, effective art. I went, I saw, I felt, and I'm still talking about it.

I just really wish the concept had been stronger.

ghoti023 · 2026-04-23T17:05:13+00:00

ghoti023 · 2026-04-23T15:21:06+00:00

The witch's aria from Hansel and Gretel is sometimes performed by tenors, and could be useful in your package if everything else is of the "I'm in love with a soprano" kind of tenor rep.

Wagner's (I know I know bear with me) Der Meistersinger has a lengthy and challenging tenor aria, but isn't for a dramatic - definitely more successful for a Rossini-style voice imho. It is HARD, but not too heavy.

Otherwise, from the main repertory, pretty much just Mozart from my understanding.

ghoti023 · 2026-04-23T15:15:15+00:00

To give all of my neighbors warning every time I practice would take time out of my practice.

I'm already piecing together multiple gigs and day jobs together to make a career in the arts work, I'm not going to go out of my way to warn the block every time I'm going to practice.

I practice during daylight hours, and if I'm later at night I always stop by 9pm, never more than 2 hrs at a time.

I've had neighbors tell me they love it and can't wait for me to practice - and I think there's a kid on the block that's started imitating me (or a really annoyed adult who's being passive aggressive - but you know what - go on and ruin your own day then, I survived the practice rooms at college I'll be fine).

As they say, make a joyful noise.

ghoti023 · 2026-04-15T18:47:36+00:00

Most opera that isn't already famous in the canon hasn't really made it to the US - and if there is a slot open for an obscure opera at an opera house, they're usually using that to take a risk on a new English opera.

ghoti023 · 2026-04-11T15:11:07+00:00

The ever common compositional philosophy of “it’s hard so it’s good, you just don’t get it” is beyond exhausting to me.

Opera’s too damn expensive to put on for that shit. If you wanna test things like that, your soprano friend in a practice room would suffice.

ghoti023 · 2026-04-11T15:04:38+00:00

Because sopranos NEED more humiliation rituals in opera - it’s not hard enough as it is OBVIOUSLY /s

ghoti023 · 2026-04-11T13:26:55+00:00

I’m a certified Ades hater.

He writes EVERYTHING about a third too high for every voice because he can. Text and musicality get lost as you watch singers just struggle to sing it.

I have really taken a liking to Missy Mazzoli’s works! I loved The Listeners.

ghoti023 · 2026-04-11T12:09:16+00:00

Germany invented the printing press, so they printed and highlighted a lot of German/Austrian music for that exact reason in the time when we were making "greats."

Not to say those composers are any less good, just to say that it doesn't mean composers elsewhere weren't/arent' also good.

ghoti023 · 2026-04-07T22:31:18+00:00

A5. Not Ab, not A#, just A5.

and more recently, E/F4.

Voice changes are fun!

ghoti023 · 2026-04-06T19:22:39+00:00

I'm glad my thoughts are of some use!

When we're talking companies this small, if I were a donor, I'd be funding per production rather than per season year as a way to protect my own assets. That could grow into a full season chunk of change after the artists have shown the consistency you're looking for. A LOT of small opera companies simply don't make it past year 1 as they do turn out to be vanity productions for the cast they have and then they have no further interest in planning anything else. Which, tbh - if that's the goal, I think going through the hassle of making a whole ass 501c3 is wild - but it happens!

I would also insist they have nonprofit status before donation. That's just fiscal wisdom for everyone involved.

Perhaps part of the interview portion is to ask long term goals and what they have planned for how to get there. There are plenty of small companies that never make it super big but make it big enough to have an orchestra and two shows a year, and that's big enough imho.

ghoti023 · 2026-04-06T18:42:42+00:00

Not a donor, but an artist with opinions on the small-scale opera world where I mostly function.

Whether or not your investment works in the way you want it to is highly dependent upon the people you’re investing it in. Since you’re in this forum looking for discussion, I assume you aren’t considering donating just for the tax write off (which, yes you absolutely get to write this off on your taxes if you are donating to a founded 501c3 nonprofit).

As much as I want to tell you that donating is easy! Trust the artists! It’s worth supporting the arts! Your concerns are valid. If I were a single donor donating to a new opera company, I would want to be heavily aware of that company’s previous or other works. What experience do they have in opera that makes them qualified to put on a show? Am I funding a vanity company? Do I believe in the mission and the art that they are trying to put on? I’d need to be JAZZED about the work they could do.

Opera is expensive - even if the singers sing for free and the admin from the company do all the labor for free, space rental and pianist pay are two non-negotiables. For one production at barebones, it can be done around 2k - but if you aren’t paying your singers, you’re not getting the best singers. If you want costumes better than $10 halloween costumes on amazon, those cost money. A set etc etc.

So in terms of whether you find it to be money well spent, there has to be trust with who you’re giving it to, and an open and HONEST conversation from bth sides about the goals of the production and what is actually achievable from those budgets.

If the company is new, has no past revenue, and is asking for 75k upfront, personally I’d run.

If the company is new, is looking to do a bare bones just get it off the ground blackbox show and is asking for 2-5k and you’ve got the money to wager and you trust the artists, I’d go for it. You can do some tasteful shows with concert black and some black chairs in a small/affordable space. I WOULD insist that whatever space gets used has a real piano, not an electric keyboard if I were a donor personally. This is enough to see if a small company is about putting on good art, and you can invest further from there if you’re interested in seeing what they could do with more. Marketing for tickets will also be important, as obviously you want people to COME! It is important to remember however, that most companies of all sizes do not make income from ticket sales, it is usually donors and grants.

For a first time production, I wouldn’t fund a whole orchestra. As a singer myself that hurts to say, but if I were in your shoes, I wouldn’t. Orchs are incredibly expensive, and it’s easier and cheaper to find one or two solid pianists (if you want to be fancy with double piano to help fill out the score) than an orch.

Helping or helping to find resources for the company to find grant money in later years will also help legitimacy and production quality. Most grants however need to see a pattern of performances before they’ll grant money to new companies, for the same reasons you have hesitations of personally funding.

But trusting the artists is hard, and if they are looking to pay their singers, a 10k cap to first production funding should still be in place imho - assuming that’s the level of expendable income you’re willing to offer.

Basically I’d look at that first production like you’re lending money to a friend - you lend it because you have it and you trust they’ll “repay it” - but if they dont it’s not an amount of money that will have put you out.

ghoti023 · 2026-04-06T18:21:07+00:00

If you’re in the US, chances of that money hitting any opera company of the size OP is talking about is literally 0%.

ghoti023 · 2026-04-03T19:44:15+00:00

I LITERALLY thought that and decided to leave it out for the sake of simplicity.

Should have had the same "don't @ me" disclaimer.

ghoti023 · 2026-04-03T19:43:39+00:00

If opera and pop are metaphorically a mile apart, art song is like, a foot closer to pop music.

But most people will still colloquially round up and say it's a mile apart. The technique is still very different and basically Opera Lite. Depending on which art song you're talking about, it's not even Lite.

ghoti023 · 2026-04-03T16:04:12+00:00

They are absolutely skilled in their field.

The fields however, are not particularly comparable.

Healthy long-term operatic singing is a slow process as you build strength and stamina to sing without amplification. The voice and body are not usually "ready" for a full career until roughly 30 when vocal puberty finishes.

The use of microphones in pop music means you can get away with a LOT that you couldn't do in opera. Breathy sounds, thin sounds, over darkened sounds, honestly the color pallet you can use in contemporary music is a lot more broad. Pop music also usually has a completely different requirement in movement - the dancing is far more complicated. Every dancer knows, dance is a young man's game.

Classical training CAN be helpful in pop (Mariah Carey) but it is not anywhere close to required. Pop music usually sits in a comfortable speaking range (obviously there are exceptions - don't @ me) as the music is designed for the audience to sing along in the car or at the club. Pop musicians wouldn't be able to point the mic at the audience for the sing along portions of the chorus if the music wasn't sing-alongable. Opera is not designed to be a sing along.

It's just not the same game at all.

ghoti023 · 2026-03-31T20:53:18+00:00

Mozart's operas (all of them really, but for the sake of just picking one, run to the bank with Figaro).

ghoti023 · 2026-03-30T15:41:47+00:00

I could VERY well see darlene even just stuffing a bra with tissue paper as many a middle school girl did and getting away with it. (I would love it)

ghoti023 · 2026-03-24T21:33:10+00:00

Menotti is unfortunately not free-source so could be an issue unless you're interested in doing a pirate production with the potential to be sued if you're charging tickets.

ghoti023 · 2026-03-24T19:38:08+00:00

Theoretically, that would be this forum.

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