If only…
If only, the thinking goes, audiences could experience the music, the pageantry, the excitement, the spectacle of opera, they would be patrons for life. And forget about whatever hoity-toity image opera might have. Irrelevant in comparison.
Which is why a big company like the cash-strapped Opera Philadelphia, and an also impoverished smaller company, Aurora Classical, have turned to the Philadelphia Fringe Festival to attract new audiences.
“The people on the Fringe mailing list are open to new experiences,” said Susan Weinman, Aurora Classical’s artistic director. “That’s why it’s perfect. We want to invite new people in.”
Offered in partnership with the Philadelphia Fringe Festival, Opera Philadelphia’s first show, “The Listeners,” by Lansdale native and rising star opera composer Missy Mazzoli, was close to sold out by the end of August.
The Listeners makes its American premiere this September at the Academy of Music. (Photo by Eric Berg)
“One of my big credos is about collaboration,” said Anthony Roth Costanzo, Opera Philadelphia’s general director and president, explaining Opera Philadelphia’s partnership with the Fringe.
“We want to find partners across disciplines, in other areas of the city, and across the country,” he said. “Expand our audience, engage theirs, and be connected to all sorts of artistically significant work that enriches lives.
“I’m a big proponent of redefining what opera means and of people’s perception of opera,” he said. “I love that the Fringe offerings are a part of this goal of expanding the definition of opera.”
In previous years, Opera Philadelphia had run its Festival O concurrently with the Fringe, but decided not to produce Festival O this year for budgetary reasons.
Costanzo is convinced that the potential for audience growth is huge. For proof he needs to look no further than the August miracle Opera Philadelphia experienced when it launched a new pick-your-price ticket program, on Tuesday, Aug. 27, with every seat for every opera available for as little as $11.
The day before, on Monday — barely a month from the company’s first opera of the season, patrons had purchased just 20 tickets. Forty-eight hours after the new pricing policy’s start, the company sold 5,876 tickets, most of them — 4,539 — for $11, although some ticket buyers paid more and some added donations.
Soprano Nicole Heaston stars in The Listeners, a new opera presented by Opera Philadelphia. (Photo by Erik Berg)
“This way of introducing people to opera and getting them hooked is what we need right now,” Costanzo said. Ticket prices bring in 8% of the company’s revenues, he said, asking if it really makes sense to keep people away from the opera for a relatively small slice of the revenue pie.
“I think the excitement — with more diverse audiences and demographics, including older people who have never been to the opera — if those people are engaged and the houses are full, that will in turn excite donors, foundations, and corporations,” he said.
Mazzoli, whose next opera, “Lincoln in the Bardo,” will have its world premiere at New York’s Metropolitan Opera in 2026, shares Costanzo’s optimism and enthusiasm for the Fringe. Growing up in Lansdale, she would take the train into the city for Fringe shows. “It was the one time of the year that I was allowed to come down every day and take in a lot of work,” she said. “I’m thrilled to be part of the Fringe.”
From left, librettist Royce Vavrek, composer Missy Mazzoli, and director Liliana Blain-Cruz at the 2022 world premiere of The Listeners in Oslo, Norway. (Photo by Mats Bäcker)
Mazzoli and librettist Royce Vavrek wrote “The Listeners” in 2016. “Politically, Trump was ascending, and people were talking about charismatic leaders, the role of charismatic leaders in society, and how they could manipulate vulnerable people,” she said.
The lead character, a middle-class mother, notices an environmental hum only audible to a select group, “The Listeners.” They form a cult-like organization, coalescing behind its de facto leader.
The opera, a major production, has a chorus of 60, along with nine main characters.
“I want the audience to have a wildly entertaining night at the theater,” Mazzoli said. “This piece is colorful, it’s funny, it’s sad, it’s everything. That’s the beauty of opera. It’s an immersive, multimedia art form and it has been that for hundreds of years.”
“The Listeners” started as a concept by Canadian author and playwright Jordan Tannahill. He turned the opera into a novel and the BBC has commissioned the work for a television series, starring Rebecca Hall, of “Vicky Christina Barcelona” and “Christine” fame.
“Bon Appétit!” serves up a piece of Julia Childs’ famous chocolate cake and more! (Aurora Classical/Billy Penn)
Meanwhile, television is also the basis for Aurora Classical’s popular Fringe presentation of “Bon Appetit!,” an opera about Julia Child, by Lee Hoiby.
“Julia Childs is a great gateway piece for classical music,” Weinman said. “It’s 25 minutes, just the right amount of time for someone who thinks they hate classical music. But everyone loves Julia Child.”
In the opera/episode, Childs prepares Le Gâteau au Chocolat l’Éminence Brune, a deeply dark chocolate cake served with coffee to the audience after the show.
Aurora is also presenting “A Philly Mikado!”, a Mummers version of W.S. Gilbert’s and Arthur Sullivan’s 1885 operetta, “The Mikado.”
The cast of “A Philly Mikado!” parties before the Mummers Parade. (Aurora Classical/Billy Penn)
Besides employing local musicians, Aurora’s goal, Weinman said, “is to break down the snob gap between classical music and people who think they need a special education or special clothing to enjoy it.”
Also in the Fringe’s opera lineup is “The Tire Swing” — part circus, part opera — by Philadelphia’s Circus Opera Co.; “Opera Shots,” four short, one-act operas from “Opera on Tap,” the Philly branch of a nonprofit aiming to make opera accessible; “For the Love of Country,” a world premiere from The Perspective Collective at the beautiful Glen Foerd mansion on the Delaware, and “Of Fiercer Origins: An Operatic Double Bill,” with works based on poetry by Adrienne Rich from the Alter Ego Chamber Opera, a local emerging chamber opera company.
FYI
“The Listeners,” Opera Philadelphia, 7 p.m. Sept. 25, 8 p.m. Sept. 27, 2 p.m., Sept. 29, Academy of Music, 240 S. Broad St.
“The Tire Swing, Circus Opera Co., 6:30 p.m. Sept. 4, 8 p.m. Sept. 8, and 5 p.m. Sept. 15, Christ Church Neighborhood House, 20 N. American St.
“A Philly Mikado!” Aurora Classical, 4 p.m. Sept. 14, Lutheran Church of the Holy Communion, 2110 Chestnut St.
“Bon Appetit!” An opera about Julia Child by Lee Hoiby, Aurora Classical, 4 p.m. Sept. 28, Lutheran Church of the Holy Communion, 2110 Chestnut St.
“Opera Shots,” Opera on Tap, 7 p.m. Sept. 16, 17 at the Velvet Whip speakeasy, near 11th and Vine streets.
“For the Love of Country,” The Perspective Collective, 2 p.m., Sept. 15, 29, Glen Foerd mansion, 5001 Grant Ave. “Of Fiercer Origins: An Operatic Double Bill,” Alter Ego Chamber Orchestra, 8 p.m., Sept. 27, 28 and 3 p.m. Sept. 28, 29, SideQuest Theater, 2030 Sansom St.