Opera can be a little intimidating.
Luca Pisaroni in The Enchanted Island
But underneath the grandeur (and layers of makeup), are poignantly human stories to the tune of beautiful music. Because opera is not a mainstream form of entertainment, it is often regarded as a pretentious one, something untouchable. However, if you give it a fighting chance, you’ll find that opera can be enjoyed by classical musicians and complete newcomers alike — old to young. Here’s our guide to making that happen:
Luca Pisaroni and Lisette Oropesa in The Marriage of Figaro
Picking An Opera
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Our best recommendation is that if you feel yourself getting swept away, flow with it. Operas can be hysterically funny (even by modern standards), devastating, devastatingly gorgeous (musically or visually), sexy, thrilling, tense, poignant and — it happens — boring. If you don’t enjoy one opera, that doesn’t mean you should completely write all opera off. That would be like saying you didn’t like one TV show, so now you’re never going to watch TV again.
But if you do get caught up in it all, go on ahead. Cry, laugh, gasp and shout — we can assure you that you won’t be the only one doing so.
Just don’t throw tomatoes; we don’t do that anymore.
When It’s All Sung And Done
If you enjoyed what you saw, keep the momentum moving. Most young opera “aficionados” know so much about the opera thanks to nothing fancier than the internet. Check out videos of a certain aria or a certain singer on YouTube, find the snarkiest review of a show that you can, and get lost in singer gossip. If you have a friend who’s super into opera, they would love answering any question you have and talking all about the art form. And of course you can always pick up books on the subject (might we suggest the biography of Maria Callas by Arianna Huffington?).
