Run, don’t walk, to find the Gregory Sullivan Isaacs interview with Dallas Opera General Director and CEO Keith Cerny in this month’s issue of “Arts + Culture” magazine. It’s simply one of the best interviews of Keith yet and worth making an effort to find. Among other things, he talks about the technological and cultural influences on opera:
“…the explosive growth of media on the Internet has again redefined what constitutes effective theater, while influencing patron expectations in every opera house in the world. I am also very conscious of the impact of MTV on musical expectations. Contemporary audiences are now conditioned to expect rapidly changing visuals. One Lady Gaga video clip on YouTube of “Bad Romance” has had close to 421,000,000 views. What struck me about this particular clip was: how many changes of sets, costumes, and camera angles occurred in a brief, five-minute piece of music. While some of our older audience members may be quite comfortable with a relatively static staging of of a five-minute aria, it is already quite clear that we are raising an entire generation geared to expect a different type of entertainment experience.”
And there’s lots more. Get your copy of the November issue of “Arts + Culture” at various locations around town, including the Winspear Opera House, in front of “Breadwinners,” and at Starbuck’s locations including Knox, the West Village, Oak Lawn and Lakewood.
