Why opera?
Cincinnati Opera artistic director Evans Mirageas answered this most eloquently at an announcement of new directions for the company on July 25 at the School for Creative and Performing Arts in Cincinnati. (See “Cincinnati Opera’s CO2, A New Era” in News/Features on this site.)
“Opera offers the most all-consuming, emotionally fulfilling theatrical experience imaginable,” said Mirageas.
“The confluence of theater, literature, ballet, visual art, costume design, instrumental music and, of course, sublime singing, opera is the ultimate showcase of human expression.
“It is performance live and in person. We breathe the same air as the performers onstage. The tenor’s unamplified, thrilling high C affects us viscerally. We feel it because we are there.
“The stories are magnified and animated by the music: they inspire and teach us. We learn that life is precious, that love matters, that revenge is not justice, that brotherhood is a noble virtue and that forgiveness is a profound gift.
Reference “Rigoletto,” “La Traviata,” “Der Ring des Nibelungen,” “Don Carlo,” “Le Nozze di Figaro,” etc., etc., etc.