Torn from the tabloids (or Scientific American)

A recent slew of opera announcements has caught my attention, not least for the fact that each of these projected productions is based on contemporary, topical and perhaps controversial subject matter.

First up, the seemingly silly, an opera based on the brief but sensational life of Playmate/golddigger/Trimspa spokeswoman Anna Nicole Smith by Richard Thomas and Mark-Anthony Turnage. At first glance, it’s a superficially sensationalist, ripped-from-the-headlines topic by the same guy (Thomas) who was librettist/composer of “Jerry Springer – The Opera”. On closer inspection, it appears that this tawdry and tragic life isn’t so far removed from countless other opera heroines, from Dalila to Carmen, who manipulated men for adoration/power/financial gain. This could be an interesting production, particularly with Turnage, a highly-respected jazz-influenced English composer who has two very successfully operas under his belt, at the helm.

Next up, another tragic story, this time fictional; an opera based on Annie Proulx’s novel “Brokeback Mountain” (yes, the very novel that yielded Ang Lee’s Oscar-winning film) commissioned by the New York City Opera. My surprise at this production came not so much from the subject/libretto (although I find the idea of a cowboy opera absolutely charming), but from the composer, Charles Wuorinen. While Wuorinen is certainly no stranger to the novel-turned opera (his adaptation of Salman Rushdie's novel, “Haroun and the Sea of Stories”, premiered at the City Opera in October 2004), he’s a seriously serialist composer whose works are notable for their unrepentant twelve-tone modernism that make little concession for populist tastes. It could be that because this story has been such a part of the contemporary cultural zeitgeist (not least for it’s honest treatment of a homosexual relationship) I have a hard time imagining it under a very different artistic/aesthetic guise. By the same token Wuorinen was highly lauded for his last effort for the City Opera (the aforementioned “Haroun”); “Brokeback” will be a reimagining that I look forward to with great curiosity.

Finally, another movie-connected opera based on Al Gore’s “An Inconvenient Truth” commissioned by Milan’s famed La Scala and to be composed by Giorgio Battistelli. Climate change has been at times a controversial topic (there are still some very vocal global warming skeptics who claim that current climate changes are due to cyclical global temperature shifts and not because of human-caused increases in greenhouse gas emissions, despite incontrovertible evidence to the contrary) and certainly a rather loose and unrestricted basis for an opera (will there be an “Ozone Aria”?). "It will be about the tragedy of our present situation," Battistelli said. "It is a great challenge, of course, to write an opera on such an unusual subject. It is certainly not the story of Romeo and Juliet." To say the least. But from a production standpoint, there is the exciting possibility of using projections, SFX and other multimedia as part of the performance experience.

Opera tends to be more cutting edge than anything you would encounter in a concert hall; the theatrical aspect certainly supports innovation. In an increasingly visual/multimedia society, it has the upper hand in terms of visibility and popularity (one only needs attend an HD Met Broadcast to see that opera certainly reaches a wide demographic). What does this bode for the future of concert music?