Opera isn’t dead. It’s evolving.
These past few days, it seems like the opera and classical music world just can’t catch a break. News of former Los Angelos Philharmonic conductor Zubin Mehta’s defense of accused sexual abusers Placido Domingo and James Levine was followed swiftly by reports of The Metropolitan Opera’s $3.5 million payout to Levine after he was fired in 2018 for “sexual misconduct”. Such actions, while deeply upsetting, are hardly surprising in an industry that far too often excuses racism and misogyny while protecting abusers even on the biggest stages and in the most prestigious institutions.
These reports have left artists and opera lovers feeling heartbroken, betrayed, and angry. How can The Met justify not paying its soloists, orchestra, and chorus members during a pandemic, citing force majeure, but still find a way to pay millions of dollars to a sexual abuser who no longer works for the company? What does it say about our industry when men like Levine and Domingo, despite their numerous accusations, are still able to find an audience? Is opera even worth it anymore? The answer, I would argue, is yes.
I understand these feelings of anger and betrayal. I’ve felt my fair share of them myself. But I think we need to make a clear distinction between opera as a modern institution and opera as an art form. When I saw my first live opera in my junior year of high school, I didn’t fall in love with the industry. I fell in love with the music.
Opera as an industry is deeply broken. It celebrates white supremacy and condones blackface. It protects abusers and excludes singers who can’t afford exorbitant audition fees or a conservatory-level education. But even with all its faults, I refuse to give up on it.
My fellow young singers today are some of the most talented, creative, and passionate people I’ve ever met. They love opera, and they love singing opera, but they refuse to put up with the immoral practices that have clouded our industry for decades. So I know that in the future we won’t let ourselves be confined by the gatekeepers and abusers that have tried to exclude us from the art form that we love for so long. As long as there are artists who have something important to say, opera will never truly die.
This may mean that singing opera won’t look the same as it has in the past. It will have to take on new forms and overcome new challenges, and that’s okay. It’s needed. It will be difficult, but to me, it’s worth it to be able to sing the music I’ve loved since I was 16 years old.
And to all the people who say that the industry can’t survive without its audition fees, its expensive institutions, its racist practices and celebrity conductors: I say good. We never needed you anyway. We will continue to make music, with or without you.
