Opera today

Maria Callas, Joan Sutherland, Montserrat Caballe, Beverly Sills, Giuseppe di Stefano, Luciano Pavarotti, Mario del Monaco... this list of grandissimo names will go on and on, and they will be praised and admired forever for their singing. The post war era of opera is often, as I myself would refer it like this, referred as Golden, if the era of Isabella Colbran is Platinum. They are often the inspiration of many opera singers today, which is supposed to be a good news, but I don't feel the same excitement.

Let me be very clear, most famous singers today have a good voice, I think they are unique. That is not the problem. The major problem today is, that the voices are not singing the right repertoire. For example, Verismo voices singing bel canto, or voices that are not strong enough singing super heavy roles (like Turandot, Elektra etc.). Every role, was composed a specific voice, all the vocal abilities of the role are supposed to be displayed in order to bring out the largest musical and vocal effect, and usually only similar voices to that of the creator could do the role the best justice. People go to listen to opera for a spectacular musical experience, they expect to see something that would make them stand up and shout "BRAVA" and applaud. Thus, as singers, and performers, they should be responsible to provide the best musical moment to the audience, especially those big houses like The Met or Royal Opera House.

However, the opera world today seems to be focusing more on physical appearance than real vocal ability, and singers seem to be able to get any roles as long as they want it. For example, I was really shocked when I see Anna Netrebko was signed to sing Norma. Anna has a very lovely warm voice, which I like so much, but I really doubt the ability of her lower register, because Norma is notoriously famous for her low tessitura. Her Anna Bolena a few years ago was just ok, because of the same reason - her lower register is not strong enough to sing the role. I am actually glad she later cancelled that performance (though Sondra, who substitutes, is neither a top class Norma, she sings too verismo-ly). I believe that singers should concentrate on singing their major repertoires; Bel Canto voices should remain singing the Bel Canto repertoire, Verismo voices should sing the Verismo repetoire. If your voice is made for this, keep singing it and amaze the audience. Of course, singers can sing some roles outside of their major repertoire. HOWEVER, they must assure that they can sing the roles and their voices fit the vocal requirements. (Like, you won't imagine Birgit Nilsson singing Semiramide, right?)

The Met recently has made a lot of marketing in their productions, some of them is successful and should be supported - such as giving out free tickets or gifts via Snapchat. However, making new productions every year does not necessarily help. No matter how much the costumes or the set change (I would only accept a new production unless the new one is better, if not the same, than the old one), the singing should be what that matters. I don't care of you are wearing a glamorous ball gown or a sexy little black dress, if you can't sing the role, you cent sing the role, and it will be a poor performance. This is opera, not film or stage drama, the singing is always the key. Costumes and settings are just a back up, they should not be put too much focus on where the singing is overlooked.

Another problem is, though this has nothing to do with current singers, that there seems to be a shortage of really talented voices. There are more people in this world than before, but why there is not more talented voices? Or are great voices really that rare that they only appear in a few decades? I don't believe so, there must be a great voice in this world that is just overlooked and undiscovered. But why it has not been found? That is a question we need to think about. Why the artistic industry is facing a decline? I personally think that it is because of money. I have seen some of my friends, who are very well-trained musicians, opted to study Engineering and Business in university because it can provide them a secure income, forgoing living music as a choice. I am not saying that their decision is wrong, but what happened to this world that made two musicians leave the music industry? Is success really determined by the amount of wealth so that everyone has chosen a path that could bring them the most of it and give up their passion for music? They are far more than qualified to be an violinist in an orchestra and they could live a life on it. This actually makes me very sad. What is your thought? Leave your comments below :)

So far, this is my comments of the opera world today. Wrong decisions, too much rely on marketing and packaging and a natural recession on vocal talents. This world is so much more than just money, we need art to live. If money can feed out body, art can feed out minds.