What do you think of when you hear the word Opera? You probably think of people wearing fancy dresses, spending hundreds of dollars, and it is an art form that only rich snobby people could enjoy. I will be completely honest. Before I went to school for music I always pictured myself singing pop music, or being a music producer and having the same mentality about Opera. It wouldn't be until I met my first voice teacher, who sang at the Metropolitan Opera alongside people like Renee Fleming, and who went to Julliard, that I would discover how beautiful Opera could be. The easiest way to explain opera to people that do not usually listen to opera, is it is an old fashioned Musical, but instead of being spoken (which in some operas it is, and no Phantom or the Opera and Repo the Genetic Opera are not true Operas,) it is all sung and most of the stories end up in death, and guess who dies? The love-stricken Soprano. Which doesn't happen all the time, but a lot of times happens.

Opera is difficult to sing, but it is so gorgeous when it's executed properly. Most people think it is screeching, which in a way it is, but it is healthier for your voice, if you are doing it right, then when most pop singers hit the notes. It makes me sad when people say that they hate Opera music more than country music, but then they will talk about how much they like Broadway. Broadway to most people that study classical music is sort of like a light version of operas, sometimes Broadway singers even sing in things called Operettas. Like Candide By Bernstein and The Pirates of Penzance by Gilbert and Sulivan.

Opera is not dead yet, but it is making the quick spiral towards that. With the National Endowment for the Arts being cut, and the decline of ticket sales, and subscriptions to opera houses, especially the biggest known in the US the Metropolitan Opera House things are looking grim. There are ways to turn it around and it all comes down to us. The younger generation. The real question is how to keep an amazing thing from dying out completely?

There are many ways that this could be achieved. There are so many digital platforms that Opera could use to try reach a younger audience, but that will not be enough. Now I love the old fashioned costumes and the keeping real to the era that the opera takes place in, but sometimes people need something to relate to. Something familiar, an update to costumes and the staging. It may not be what the composer wanted, but there has been a change in our societies. The Metropolitan Opera tried this with Verdi's Rigoletto. They set it in 1970's Las Vegas. This did not raise tickets sales and they actually received a lot of backlash about this.

I think it would be a cool idea to get younger children involved by maybe holding a contest to pick a setting and costume theme for the opera and give the winners something, maybe free tickets. Also I know that a lot of Opera houses have student pricing, but that can still be expensive. Why not offer a discount day, or maybe offer a sneak peek of the opera on a platform like YouTube. It makes me sad when I tell someone that I am going to sing an aria and they ask me about Arya Stark from Game of Thrones.

One thing that I think has helped Opera to stay alive is the popularity of Rent. Again I am bringing up a musical, however this is essentially the retelling of the tragic opera La Boheme by Pucini. The opera is about a woman who had Tuberculosis, Mimi, who asks her neighbors if they could light the candle and this is where she meets Rodolfo. The love story with a tragic end. This has some beautiful music associated with it, look up the Arias “Si, Mi Chiamano Mimi” and “Quando Men Vo” Also known as Musettas waltz, which is one of my favorites.

There are some Comic Operas like “The Marriage of Figaro” and “Don Giovanni” both by Mozart. There are also many other ways that opera can be cool, and hip, and in with the modern crowd. The question is how do we do this? How do we keep opera a float when no one seems to like it much anymore? Maybe it is a shot in the dark to save opera, but there are ways.