Monday, February 13, 2006

New Wave Of Composers At The Met

I'm not much of an aficionado of opera -- that's biboy's department. But I do try to keep up with contemporary composers and always try to get tickets to any new opera staged by the Met. That's just become a lot more difficult with its new head: the Met is going to be commissioning a lot more operas down the road. The New York Times mentions Rufus Wainwright (who loves opera, but should be working on a musical first), Michael John la Chuisa, Mary Zimmerman, Wynton Marsalis, Adam Guettel and more "traditional" names like John Adams and Scott Wheeler. Maybe it's time to buy a season subscription?

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

This is supposed to be good news? How about reviving opera's popularity by you know, focusing on operas instead of crossover Broadway musicals or whatever they seem to have in mind.

Michael in New York said...

Guettel and La Chiusa are practically writing operas as it is, so it won't be much of a leap for them. What's the big deal? Opera isn't some high art Broadway composers shouldn't aspire to, just a more complex version of what they're doing.