Vienna

Opera Threatened - Opera of the Future

While the opera within Vienna has been an overall strength for Viennese society, the future of the opera house within the 21st Century is being threatened by the popularity different styles of music.  Outdoor concert halls such as the concert area on Danube Island have the capacity to house a much larger audience number and meet the technology and audience capacity needs of modern day music performers.  Halls such as the Theatre an der Wien and the Vienna State Opera cannot hold as many people as these outdoor arenas where thousands of music fans can congregate to see performers.  Also, turmoil within the Vienna State Opera occurred on September 5, 2014 when the general music director, Franz Welser-Möst abruptly resigned from his position weeks before the beginning of the new season citing “irreconcilable differences of opinion regarding the company’s artistic planning and profile”. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

However, the opera may not meet the demise that many popular music lovers predict.  New modern operas like “Death and the Powers” in Chicago integrate interactive technology such as, robotics, and sonic technology to engage the audience during their opera experience.    New opera houses that are constructed are designed in order to accommodate these new theatre and sound techniques in order to maximize their affect during a performance. Updating the technology that is utilized in opera and introducing new technologies will provide composers with the opportunity to create new genres of opera that are as revolutionary as Gluck’s reform operas.  The development of new operas that address issues that are prevalent in today’s society may provide Vienna the opportunity to revitalize the opera industry within the city.  In other cities where the opera has been suffering, directors developed the idea of expanding the opera beyond the four walls of the opera house by filming the performances and displaying them live at various movie theatres across the country.  This allows a much larger audience to witness the plays being performed and utilizes the new filming technologies that have been created in the last decade.  The filming of operas has been done successfully by the Metropolitan Opera in New York City, and this technique could be used with increased frequency by Viennese opera house directors in order to encourage more people to watch opera.   However, these technological advances need an increased amount of revenue in order to keep them running, so the future expansion of the opera experience will need many financial donors to keep it running throughout the season.  The following video explains how technology has been incorporated in order to broaden the opera experience.