Opera at the Movies
I cannot tell you how many conversations I’ve had in the past three years with classical musicians bemoaning the current state of the arts. Someone has moved our cheese! We are starving! The instinct is to panic and run in circles and shout for more cheese. They are right. The cheese is gone. As we face this new era of Youtube, Facebook, and iPads, we are finding that the audiences in actual opera houses and symphony halls are dwindling. OK, so what?
If the cheese has moved, we’d better start hunting for it or we will actually starve. It’s time to adapt or die – (didn’t Brad Pitt say that in Moneyball?). When Peter Gelb came to the Met and introduced the HD live broadcast to movie theaters, there was a similar outcry. It will ruin the art form! The quality will be lost! (We artists are so dramatic!)
The New York Times reported last week that the Met has made more in donations this year than any year in the past. ANY YEAR! That is in a recession! Why? Because he went out and found the cheese! If the audiences are not coming into the opera house, why not take the opera out to them. NY Times Hits a High Note
The point is that Peter Gelb took a huge chance. He endured a lot of criticism and he found the cheese – at least for this year! He was able to balance his budget in large part due to the $11 million in profits that came from the HD Broadcasts, but most of the money came from very wealthy people who liked his idea. So his was a two-pronged approach 1) if the audiences are not coming into the opera house, bring the opera to the people; 2) find donors who believe in the “democratization of opera” and get them to donate to the cause.
How does this affect the everyday singer? Money (or cheese) can come from anywhere. Lowering ticket prices helped Gelb find money. How can the average classical singer adapt to find her cheese? Ultimately it was generosity and good will that brought in the millions. It was a cause that people could get behind. And it was implemented with the power and confidence required to take a big risk.
On the level of the artist as entrepreneur, each individual singer can define herself as the CEO of her own company: Herself the Great Soprano Incorporated. The company needs a product, a team, a cause, and the ability to take risks. What can this company do to make the world a better place either in the product offered or in the method of delivery? The Met brought live opera to the people in movie theaters and made the world a better place by doing so. In turn, they also made a lot of money. It was a win-win! What can you do?