Breaking Down Classical: opera infiltrates living rooms and movie theaters

There’s no such thing as a typical opera fan. Some people love the opera because, with its dramatic storylines and sumptuous costumes, they find it more audience-friendly than classical music. Then there are those who love orchestral music and chamber music, but are daunted by the prospect of a three-hour opera. But even these classical music loyalists often eventually find opera less laborious to listen to than instrumental music.

However, compared to non-classical music, opera still remains a fairly obscure and unpopular medium, even feared by some. That is probably why the Metropolitan Opera has created innovative programs to reach out to new audiences who wouldn’t normally attend opera due to intimidation, high ticket prices, or ignorance. But it remains to be seen whether these programs have actually attracted members of a younger generation and lower socio-economic class, or just the same old kooky people who attend every free event in the city. Nevertheless, this push toward accessibility begs the question­—will opera ever become mainstream?

One of the most popular programs is the Metropolitan Opera’s Live in HD, a series of live performances transmitted in high-definition video from the opera to over 600 venues, mostly movie theatres, all over the country. The series started in 2006 with Mozart’s The Magic Flute, and has since become a popular way to experience the opera without the supposed pomp. This season the Met, starting on Oct. 10, will include nine transmitted live performances, including Puccini’s Tosca, Verdi’s Aida, and other classics.

The interesting thing about the Live in HD series is that opera-lovers, which comprise a large portion of the audience, sometimes dress up in concert attire and applaud right along with the real audience on screen. But the extent to which the on-screen version succeeds in accurately portraying a live event and capturing the experience of the opera is debatable. Are the quality of sound and the ambiance of a live performance really that dispensable? But there are advantages to this kind of close-up view. Most opera seats are so far away from the stage that audience members lose the ability to see the expressions of the singers and the sometimes surprisingly good acting—benefits that return in Live in HD. Yet there is something magical about the live experience.

If people are substituting this live experience for the virtual one, then the series is counterproductive. But if the audience of Live in HD would have otherwise never seen the opera at all, the production seems entirely worthwhile.

Then there was the Met’s Summer HD Festival, which had its test run this summer from Aug. 29 through Sep. 7. This series eliminated the live element of the other series, instead presenting past Met performances on a large screen in the middle of Lincoln Center for free. Thanks to the pleasant weather, these performances were a hit, drawing large audiences that couldn’t even fit in all of the seats provided. The Met offered a mix of classics and lesser-known operas, from Puccini’s Madame Butterfly to Donizetti’s Fille du Regiment. While the performances had sometimes occurred years before they were presented on the large screen, the experience of being outside with a cool breeze in the middle of one of the most important cultural centers in the world (without having paid a dime) had its charm. Likewise, the audience members (for the most part) took the events seriously, maintaining a respectful and reverential quiet, unlike those at the New York Philharmonic concerts in the parks where people ate and talked without any regard for their fellow listeners.

There is a hybrid of these two series, which is the Live in HD Summer Series Encore Presentation, in which performances from the Live in HD series are played in select movie theaters in the U.S. and Canada. With these screenings, the live element is eliminated, as well as the enjoyable outdoor, communal experience. But the advantage of any filmed performance, including those in the Encore Presentation series and operas on DVD, is the fact that a film director as well as a stage director were employed for its creation. With the help of shifting angles and increased zoom, nuances and details of the performance (subtle gestures, glistening eyes, even inflections in the singing which could be obscured by ambient noise) become discernible even to those who did not pay hundreds of dollars for a first-row seat.

These attempts at mass dissemination of opera, in conjunction with other initiatives such as the Met Player, which offers subscribers monthly and yearly rates for access to over 200 Met performances streamed online, are double-edged in their intentions and effects. While people who wouldn’t normally be able to attend or afford the opera get some exposure to the art form, and the barrier of ostentation preventing the layperson from appreciating opera is temporarily dislodged if not entirely destroyed, the ideal of the opera is somewhat tainted in these new formats. The experience of going to the opera is no longer reserved simply for the ethereal opera house, but for the comfort of one’s home, or the sterility of a movie theater. Opera is not what it once was, for better or for worse.

Catherine Rice is a Barnard College junior majoring in Music. Breaking Down Classical runs on alternate Mondays.