I keep remembering the optimism with which the San Francisco Opera imported Pamela Rosenberg from the Stuttgart Opera. And then I remember how much the San Francisco opera public hated the idea of opera she brought them. She virtually transplanted the Stuttgart Opera to San Francisco, with its European sensibilities, its German perspective on the opera, its production designers and even its singers. Our beloved Americans disappeared.
So what if Gerard Mortier does the same thing and imports the Paris opera virtually as is to New York? When the Paris Opera makes the news it is usually because of some outrageous sexual element. Is New York ready? Americans are very much behind the Europeans in their taste in opera productions. At the same time the Europeans are simplifying their concepts, making them more abstract.
Is New York ready? We shall see.
Woking Phoenix
1 hour ago
3 comments:
Rosenberg's tenure was not empty of frictions, but it was overall successful! At least, she turned around the company financially and brought it back in the black, which means she was doing something right!
Germany was already well on its way to its current modernist approach to opera in the mid 70's when I was working there. I never got the feeling audiences in San Francisco were in tune with this kind of opera. I wasn't accusing her of general incompetence.
Americans are not as hip as Europeans, and I'm not sure European producers are aware of this.
I vowed not to comment on other people's comments and see how long that lasted.
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