Tag Archives: sharon

A New Philosophy of Opera

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newphilosophyA New Philosophy of Opera is a recent book by opera and theatre director Yuval Sharon.  It deals with that thorny question “How do we revitalise opera?”.  It contains a lengthy critique of the current opera world; repertory, performance practice, business model, and some pretty radical suggestions for ways forward.  It’s focussed on the US but I think it’s pretty relevant to Canada too.  It’s also worth pointing out upfront that Sharon’s way forward is not at all based on the German model.  He’s actually quite critical of it as being almost as ritualistic, lifeless and elitist as the US model.

So let’s look at his critique of current practice.  It can be summed up by the three adjectives in the previous sentence.  So, inter alia: Continue reading →

Make Brabant Great Again

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Yuval Sharon’s Lohengrin in 2018 at the Bayreuth Festival was the first production there by an American director and, perhaps unsurprisingly, there are echoes of contemporary events in the US in the show.  Specifically Sharon’s Brabant is a conformist theocracy in which society has regressed technologically.  Some of the action takes place in and around a prominently placed disused electrical installation of some kind.  The Brabanters are cowardly and subservient, initially to Telramund and then, equally, to Lohengrin.  The advent of a charismatic leader. does not necessarily equate to liberation or full citizenship.  Sharon also claims in his director’s notes that the real dissenter is Ortrud and that it is her actions that liberate Elsa and Gottfried.  Whether the staging supports this is, I think, questionable.

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