Opera Production: Why Did They Do It THAT Way?
Three Tuesdays: Nov. 18, 25, and Dec. 2; 9:30 a.m. – 12 noon
Weinman Hall, Music Academy of the West 1070 Fairway Road, Santa Barbara
VISTAS member price: $40; non-member price: $60
Presented by: Simon Williams
Nothing infuriates and divides contemporary opera audiences as much as modern stage productions of classic opera. For some, these productions violate the very essence of opera; for others, they breathe life into an antiquated form of theatre and preserve it for our time. In this course, Dr. Williams will draw on over 70 years of opera-going as an audience member and critic to explain modern approaches to production and to argue why they are necessary, even beneficial to the survival of opera. He will first examine why people resist the introduction of modern concerns onto the operatic stage and relate this to the role of opera in society today. He will then identify patterns of coherence in the somewhat confusing world of modern production. Finally, he will demonstrate how over the years one major work of the operatic repertoire has spoken to different generations of audiences so that they find their own meanings in it. You may very well not agree with everything that is said in this course, but it is sure to generate abundant conversations!