Something like 3% of all adults in this country attend opera, according to the National Endowment for the Arts. It has always been considered an elite art form and its popular following remains small. The Nashville-based municipal opera company has taken a series of steps to expand interest in its art form. Nashville is the home and commercial center of country music: there are thousands of musicians in the area, and chances are, aside from opera artists, none sing in Italian.
The Nashville Opera has focused on the contemporaneity of its product by developing educational programs in the community and performing distinctly non-classical compositions in opera format, including one written by a country-western artist. One of the cool things they have undertaken at the end of their current season is to provide podcasts with the director’s commentary. These podcasts are downloaded from the Opera Company’s website, one for each of the three acts of their latest production of the year, Romeo and Juliet.
iPods in hand and headphones in place, opera-goers are instructed to start playing their MP3 at the sound of the first note of the act. They are then provided with an audio and short video podcast of commentary from the director as the opera progresses through its scenes. Cast members are also involved, describing what is happening on stage while the connected audience member listens to the cast member describe what it is like to go through the steps.
The Nashville Opera understands that an iPod in your ear while watching a classical production sung in a foreign language can be distracting. That’s why they suggest the viewer use the comment as an enhancement on their second visit to the performance. That speaks not only to the impressive creativity of the Nashville Opera in including technology in its productions, but also to its marketing acumen.
Interviews with attendees who took advantage of podcasts for productions of Romeo and Juliet showed mixed reactions. For many, it wasn’t so much a nuisance as a sensory overload. Many who appreciated drama and great singers had trouble absorbing the voice in their ear and the face in their lap. The director of marketing for the Nashville Opera has a viable concept in the notion that the commentary would add an extra dimension to a second viewing of a production.
Some viewers loved the addition of the commentary, particularly the parts provided by the players themselves. It has to be a fascinating dichotomy, listening to a mezzo-soprano perform a complicated aria with astonishing skill while her everyday voice describes the experience in the other ear.
The role of podcasts as a complement to live events remains to be established. But what the Nashville Opera has done is an impressive step in bringing its musical performances created hundreds of years ago into the world of 21st century entertainment. It is conceivable that what is overload for an opera veteran might be a natural match for a child of technical age.
Kids who have grown up with iPods may find a second audio component in the ear as natural as sitting in class and listening to music. With some persistence, the Nashville Opera can make its combination of classical music and portable theater the next product on Apple’s iStore, or the next market Bill Gates tries to corner.
