Thursday 28 November 2024

Having attended dozens of opera conferences around the world, my third takeaway from the Business of Opera summit was that the net impact of the event was negative.

Here is a list of reasons why, in the form of DON’Ts for future conferences on the opera sector.

A conference with negative impact

• Don’t joke that if someone in the audience doesn’t recognise Papageno’s aria that they shouldn’t be here
• Don’t joke that you can ask the event stewards, who are Vocal Studies students from RCM, to “sing an aria for you”—unless you say “you can pay them to sing an aria for you“
• Don’t secretly pay some speakers and not others so that when one jibes, “you didn’t pay me to keep my opinions to myself,” and the other replies, “you’re getting paid?!” we won’t all feel so embarrassed
• In this time of ecological crisis, don’t fly a New York intendant over for less than 24 hours to crack a few jokes, play a few (albeit lovely) videos and denounce modernism for 20 minutes
• In choosing rooms for the breakout meetings, don’t put the management discussions upstairs in “Impressive 1 and 2” while the artists are downstairs in “Creative 1”
• Likewise, don’t have the lunch room for the managers upstairs and the lunch room for the artists downstairs
• Don’t forget to involve non-institutional voices to speak in the conference
• Don’t forget that composers exist, even today
• Don’t fail to invite colleges/educators to speak if your’e going to talk about talent pipelines
• Don’t forget to invite some students or alumni to speak if you’re going to talk about talent progression
• Don’t have stewards standing-by with microphones if you don’t have the time to open the floor to questions
• Don’t be afraid of debate
• Don’t be afraid of freelancers

A conference with positive impact

Here is a list of DOs that I saw at the industry-changing Devoted and Disgruntled (D&D) event in 2017, instigated by Bill Bankes Jones and hosted by English National Opera.

• Invite absolutely everyone and anyone who cares about the sector
• Make it free but ticketed
• Make it accessible
• Make it about conversing, listening and connecting people rather than lecturing
• Remove the distinction between speakers and audience so that everyone can be a speaker and a listener
• Remind people that sometimes it’s useful to talk with people you would never usually talk with
• Remind people that they are free to walk away from any conversation for any reason
• Have the event over two days
• Have faith that the sector is ingenious, talented, intelligent, innovative and capable go-getters from top TO BOTTOM.

Opera: work in harmony

At both D&D and the Business of Opera summit, I was reminded that nobody in the sector really knows how to make this opera thing work. How could we? Nobody’s psychic!

But if we work together we will we find a way, and by finding a way together, we will be doing what we are supposed to be doing. Working in harmony is not a means to an end. Working in harmony is the end.

The opera is not important. It is people doing opera together that is important.

PS.

The issue with the D&D style of conference, of course, is that it is less attractive/more threatening to those with power but who also happen to be cowards (those with power but who are courageous come to such events). Which brings us nicely to…

Click here to continue to Part 4. The Emperor has no clothes (coming Friday 29 Nov).

Click here to go back to Part 2. What in opera’s name are you talking about?