Myths Debunked - Modernising Opera

Written by Josephine Walbank

When it comes to a stereotype for staying the same since the 1800's, opera is probably the art form most likely to be branded with this stigma. 

Obviously we're a little biased but, although opera has a bad rep for being stuck in a rut, it's evolved dramatically over the past few centuries. Just because it's been around for a while, this doesn't mean that it hasn't changed in these years (if anything, we think it's had extra time to perfect itself).

So, in the first of our 'myths debunked' series of blog posts, we want to dispel the myth that opera is still stuck in the 1800's.

In a recent poll, the Classical-music website asked 172 top opera singers to vote for what they thought was the single best opera ever. 

The results came as quite a shock: out of the pieces that made the top 10, almost half of these were 20th century works. Plus, operas written in the last 30 years got plenty of votes - showing that it's not just the classics that hold a special place in the hearts of the great singers.

The nominated newbies included Tobias Picker's Emmeline (1996), Mark-Anthony Turnage's The Silver Tassie (2002), George Benjamin's Written on Skin (2012), Thomas Ades' The Exterminating Angel (2016) and Jake Heggie's Dead Man Walking (2000) (which the survey labelled the greatest opera of the past 50 years).

While you can still attend the kinds of time-honoured opera performances that are exactly what you'd expect from this glamorous genre, what kind of place does contemporary opera have in popular culture?

The scene of contemporary opera has endless scope for creativity. There's so much that can be achieved within this niche, and new opportunities for opera include everything from a re-imagined use of technology and bold costume choices, to unexpected settings, political and social commentaries, and far more complex roles for women and characters of different ethnicities - the scope is endless, really. 

Critics and audiences (especially those of us who fancy opting for far cheaper tickets to save a bob or two) are paying an increasing regard to newcomer performances that shake up the norms a touch. Plus, these reinventions and the statements within them illustrate the changes happening at the very forefront of our arts and culture. 

With all of this in mind, to get a taste of where opera's heading into the rest of the decade, here are a few key examples of intriguing contemporary twists in opera that we'd like to draw attention to:

Nixon in China

Coming to Scotland later on in 2020, this bold political opera draws its inspiration from the publicity of Nixon's 1972 visit to China. It aims to simultaneously expose both the political and private moments experienced by its key, big-figure-characters.  

L'Upupa

Created by Hans Werner Henze, the costumes of this opera are truly a spectacle in and of themselves. 

Anthropocene

With a setting like this, there's no questioning its originality - it's set in the frozen wastelands of the Arctic.

Into the Little Hill

This pared-back performance (lasting just 40 minutes) consists of just two voices (one contralto, one soprano) who are disarmingly "cold and detached".

The Last Hotel

Created by Donnacha Dennehy and Enda Walsh, this dramatic, deeply psychological, blood-thirsty show is set in a grubby hotel which is visited by guests wanting to commit suicide. 

Jack the Ripper: Women of Whitechapel

This is a prime example of the place that modern operas are making for women, as this performance sheds a light on the female victims of Jack the Ripper, providing them with a new space to share their story. 

The innovations in these modern performances certainly illustrate a dramatic shift in opera's history. Plus, you can't help but wonder, could it be that these reinventions are exactly what opera needs to recapture the younger generation's attention?