Editor’s Note Front of House
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EDITORIAL Phone +44 (0)20 7333 1701 Email opera.now@markallengroup.com Editor-in-Chief Ashutosh Khandekar Associate Editor Helena Matheopoulos Consultant Editor Keith Clarke Contributing Editors Francis Muzzu, Tom Sutcliffe Robert Thicknesse (UK), Francis Carlin (France), James Imam (Italy), Karyl Charna Lynn (USA), Andrew Mellor (Scandinavia), Ken Smith (Far East) Design Louise Wood ADVERTISING Phone +44 (0)20 7333 1716 Title Manager Andres Pellegrino, andres.pellegrino@markallengroup.com Advertising Production Daniela DiPadova, +44 (0)20 7333 1727, daniela.dipadova@markallengroup.com SUBSCRIPTIONS AND BACK ISSUES Phone UK 0800 137201 Overseas +44(0)1722 716997 Email subscriptions@markallengroup.com Subscriptions Manager Bethany Foy UK Subscription Rate £70 PUBLISHING Phone +44(0)20 7738 5454 Publishing Director Owen Mortimer Director of Marketing & Digital Strategy Luca Da Re Marketing Manager John Barnett Group Institutional Sales Manager Jas Atwal Production Director Richard Hamshere Circulation Director Sally Boettcher Managing Director Paul Geoghegan Chief Executive O cer Ben Allen Chairman Mark Allen
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What will be opera’s new normal?
As we come to the end of 2021, you’ll notice that this magazine is filling up with live reviews again. It’s a sure sign that opera is getting back to normal – though of course nothing feels quite the same as it was ‘before’. Even without the pandemic, the world has changed: Black Lives Matter, gender equality, climate change – all these things have had a huge impact on the arts. What we see on stage in the opera house has always reflected the society in which we live. Take Verdi’s exploration of sexual mores in La Traviata or Puccini’s dissection of the nature of power in Tosca: two of the most popular works in the repertoire. Both are full of resonances that continue to affect audiences today, in ways that should be thoughtprovoking for a new generation who bring a new set of preoccupations to the world they inhabit.
Great works will always continue to speak to audiences. As the pandemic runs its course, there is perhaps a notion – which tends to happen after periods of massive rupture such as wars and plagues – that everything from the past is redundant, so it is only new ideas that count. Opera houses have played an important role through centuries of crisis and upheaval in providing cultural continuity as well as celebrating creative innovation and embracing change. Janus-like, they look backwards and forwards, charting a course for cultural renewal but also serving as a repository for history, memory and identity.
Strauss’s Salome, one of the most shocking and innovative works of its time, was premiered in 1905– the same year as Lehár’s Merry Widow, which wallows in romantic nostalgia. Opera at the turn of the last century encapsulated the idea that the beginning of a new era didn’t mean the past had to be eradicated or revised.
This month is one of celebration, and I hope you’ll all be able to spend convivial times with loved ones in a way that was impossible a year ago. Many opera houses are presenting full programmes throughout Christmas and the New Year. Let me urge you to support them as we go into 2022. A trip to the opera house is a perfect way of reconnecting to a wider cultural community, and celebrating the start of what will undoubtedly be a fascinating year ahead for the world of opera.
Ashutosh Khandekar
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Opera Now captures the drama, colour and vitality of one of the most powerful of all the performing arts. In our print and digital issues, we showcase the creative spirit of opera, both on stage and behind the scenes, with profiles of opera companies, singers, directors and designers. Our in-depth features reflect how diverse cultural elements have influenced opera, including travel, history, literature, art, architecture, politics and philosophy. Our lively reviews and opinion pages are a platform for writers and critics drawn from all over the world. Our aim is to inspire our opera-loving readers to broaden their knowledge and deepen their passion for this fascinating and stimulating artform.
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