Believing in Opera

Believing in Opera Synopsis

Opera is no longer an experience that is hard to believe in, where the stories and morals can't be taken seriously. For opera is meant to be seen - as well as heard - and the live theatrical side is what gets to the heart of the matter. Deeply radical ideas about women and society and power and love lurk below the surface.

But only when modern directors started using the editing style, imagery and metaphor commonplace in the cinema and pop videos did the often hidden agendas of the great composers start to hit home. Opera productions by directores like Peter Brook, David Alden, Peter Sellars, Ruth Berghaus, Richard Jones, Peter Hall, David Pountney and Graham Vick have recently generated immense controversy among cognoscenti. Newcomers, meanwhile, have been thrilled by the theatrical vision which the power of music allows, and excited at the way opera liberates the imagination.

This book explains what's been going on and why.