OPERA:

                Maxwell Foxman

pera devotees in the 21st century find themselves in the embarrassing position of loving a tradition popularly synonymous with conservatism, stodginess, and elitism. This last charge strikes close to home: the cheapest regular tickets to the Metropolitan Opera in New York cost $50, and most cost over $100. This is not art for everyone.

Peter Gelb, who took over as general manager of the Met in August, thinks it can be. Gelb worked in the music business as head of Sony Classical long enough to see that opera's audience was narrowing. “There was a study that I read when I first came here that the average age of the audience was increasing by one year per year, and that a year or two ago, the average age was 65,” the former Sony Classical head told the International Herald Tribune. “Five or six years earlier, it had been close to 60. That's a truly frightening statistic.”

One of Gelb's first steps to reaching a younger, more varied audience was bringing in Anthony Minghella to completely revamp Madame Butterfly, a classic of the Met's repertoire. Minghella, of English Patient renown, stripped down Butterfly's background to shoji screens and one giant overhead mirror. He encouraged singers to move outside their routines. Most controversially, he replaced a human role with that of a Japanese bunraka puppet. The Met has promoted the production with bus and subway campaigns, a new rush program for those without student IDs, and an open house for the final dress rehearsal. The Met will broadcast new performances on PBS's WNET, Channel 13, and at movie theaters.

At the same time, Gelb is trying to bring the Met technologically up to date, making its performances available through new media channels. “Opera fans are as fanatical about opera as baseball fans are about baseball,” read a recent Met press release. “We want to make the Met as available electronically to its followers as the Yankees are to theirs.”

On opening night, the entire production was broadcast to the masses, or at least the Manhattan masses, on Times Square's big TV and a screen in the courtyard of Lincoln Center. The broadcast was preceded by a performance by Nelly Furtado. May Lin CC '07, who attended the event, thought the Furtado performance was “going a little too far,” but she found the new event exciting. “Tourists & came to watch,” she said, “but then people were leaving work from Times Square, and they stopped and watched, too.” All seats were filled, and the side streets were packed with viewers.

Butterfly's attention-grabbing opening night marked only the beginning of the Met's digital revolution. The opera house has partnered with Sirius Satellite radio, perhaps best known for its acquisition of the Howard Stern Show. The Met will broadcast many of its performances this season, as well as recordings from its archives. The Met will also use RealNetworks to stream live audio of its shows, and sell them on Real's online music store, Rhapsody.

While other managers have brought name-brand directors to opera, Gelb's embracing of emerging, potentially democratic media points to something new. His effort is certainly a gamble, and the payoff will not be immediate. But it represents a genuine attempt to make an often inaccessible art form available to a wider and more diverse audience. Those who love opera can only approve.