On the Future of the Metropolitan Opera (continued)

Reviewing a new history of the Metropolitan Opera in yesterday’s Wall Street Journal, I write: “The Met has never enjoyed the services of a shrewd and practical visionary. There is no one in the company’s annals to set beside Henry Higginson, who created the Boston Symphony in 1881; or Oscar Hammerstein, whose Manhattan Opera combined integrated musical theater, new repertoire and stellar artists before being bought out by the Met in 1910; or George Balanchine and Lincoln Kirstein, who invented the New York City Ballet in 1948; or Harvey Lichtenstein, who reinvented the Brooklyn Academy of Music in the 1980s.” #

To read the review, google: wall street journal affron metropolitan opera book review #

Also, if you were not able to access my recent Wall Street Journal Op-Ed on the Met, in which I opined that the 4,000-seat Metropolitan Opera House is “already a relic,” google: wall street journal joseph horowitz metropolitan opera union trouble #

Common to both pieces is the notion that “grand opera” as a defining variant of the operatic experience is increasingly a thing of the past. Like the “culture of performance” and the “performance specialist,” it will ultimately be viewed as a twentieth century anomaly. Opera in America will increasingly transpire in smaller spaces, prioritizing an intimate theatrical experience. #