IF THE number of opera performances in Scotland were a true measure of the genre’s popularity, then the obvious conclusion would be that opera is in serious decline. Where Scottish Opera once presented a full season of around ten full-scale productions, we’re lucky to see less than half of that now in the wake of the notorious operatic credit crunch that hit the company several years ago.
But even when an opportunity arises to plug the gaps with imported product, the resolve to make it happen is never quite as passionate as it once was. Take Opera North’s original plans to stage two Gershwin operas and a brand new work (Skin Deep by c
omposer David Sawer and libretto by comedy writer Armando Ianucci) at Glasgow’s Theatre Royal next March. These have been surreptitiously ditched, apparently as a result of “scheduling difficulties”. There’s a hint of half-heartedness in that excuse.
No, for all that Scottish Opera has done well to make a silk purse out of a sow’s ear – it’s back on the scene next week with an obscure season-opener, Cimarosa’s The Secret Marriage – the bubble burst long ago. We’ve become acclimatised to a slimline operatic diet.
So let’s dream: imagine that the New York Metropolitan Opera decided to mount almost half its home season – ten operas – in venues throughout Scotland. In the lead roles: Finnish soprano Karita Mattila in the title role of Salomé; Renée Fleming in Massanet’s Thaïs; Angela Gheorghiu and Roberta Alagna in a new production of Puccini’s La Rondine; and Natalie Dessay leading up Bellini’s La Sonnambula.
Among the directors: Mark Morris (a choreographed version of Gluck’s Orfeo ed Euridice), Anthony Minghella, and that old friend (and once managing director) of Scottish Opera, John Cox.
Well, stop dreaming – it’s absolutely true. Over ten Saturdays between 11 October and next May, venues around Scotland will host opening night performances by the Met that include Jurgen Flimm’s production of Strauss’s Salomé, Robert Lepage’s take on Berlioz’s The Damnation of Faust, Gerald Finley as atom-splitter Robert Oppenheimer in John Adams’s Doctor Atomic and Mary Zimmerman’s brand new production of La Sonnambula. Other productions include Puccini’s Madama Butterfly, Donizetti’s Lucia di Lammermoor and Rossini’s La Cenerentola.
There is a catch, of course. These are all part of The Met: Live in HD, a brilliant concept that allows the company to broadcast its New York performances live and simultaneously to cinemas in more than 30 countries to a worldwide audience of 1.2 million or so.
In commercial terms it’s a stroke of genius. The person who thought of it – the Met’s director of worldwide HD distribution, Julie Borchard-Young – first discovered the concept years ago when working on a David Bowie concert which was relayed live to cinemas. “I was fascinated that such a superstar, in such a short space of time, could reach over 50,000 people,” she explains.
When Peter Gelb took over as general manager of the Met, with a mission to take opera to as wide an audience as possible, Borchard-Young saw her opportunity. “Peter bought the idea of sharing our performances in real time with moviegoers across all feasible time zones. We started exhibiting live to seven countries in 2006, and now feature in 31 countries.”
Most important to Scots audiences are the screenings in Cineworld cinemas in Glasgow, Falkirk and Dundee, as well as City Screen’s Cameo Picturehouse in Edinburgh. Next week’s opening night relay of Salomé marks the start of the 2008/9 season.
Actually, the idea isn’t completely new, when you consider that the Met has been broadcasting live on worldwide radio (Radio 3 is its partner in the UK) on regular Saturdays for close on 80 years. This is simply an updated format, made possible by cinema’s replacement of 35mm tapes with digital screening. But the overriding question is this: can it be good for the future of opera?
Evidence from the first three years of the project strongly suggests it is. Take pricing. “Our premium tickets are higher than those for a normal film, but we would never suggest that you can equate the experience with that of a live production,” Borchard-Young says. Even so, the cinema tickets are cheaper than a front row seat in an opera house.
“When we put this initiative together our first intention was to reach new audiences,” she adds. “We put out questionnaires, and found that a substantial percentage of people had never been to a live opera, but now intended to go to one within their own communities.”
And the Met team isn’t simply content to screen the operas as straight performances. “The experience should be like watching a sporting event,” says Borchard-Young. “A host – in next week’s Salome it’s the singer Deborah Voigt – sets the scene. You get to follow the stars off-stage, where they are greeted and interviewed by the host.”
But perhaps the most intriguing outcome of this project has been the involvement of other opera companies you’d think would be antagonistic towards the Met’s universal incursions.
Santa Fé’s famous opera company, for instance, has joined forces with a local theatre and other arts organisations to screen the operas. “People see something on screen that engages them on a more emotive plain than a movie,” says Borchard-Young. “They engage and talk about opera and shout ‘Brava’ at the screen. It’s bucking the trend of home entertainment where people come out and gather as groups.”
Scottish Opera take heed: if popcorn opera can turn more folk onto Puccini, then I’m all for it.
• The Met: Live in HD opens at participating Scottish cinemas with Strauss’s Salomé on Saturday 11 October. For details, log on to:
www.cineworld.co.uk/metopera or
www.picturehouses.co.uk/site/cinemas/cameo