Could musicals help turn young people on to opera?

music have no problem attracing young audience, while the opera is not. But his call respective really so different, he wonders live magazine writer Laura Blumenthal

"It's a lack of knowledge," says Christopher Millard. "It is less likely that I have found grace in their lives." Millard, director of communications for the Royal Opera House, speaks of the eternal. Problem faced by opera companies - attracting a young audience Whatever you do apparently, the image of the audience of the opera takes place in the public mind: white, rich past week, aging, film and music interviewed Peter Gelb, general manager. the Metropolitan Opera in New York. In emitting Met operas in movie theaters on both sides of the Atlantic, he said, the Met has reduced the average age of its audience, 65, 62 or 63. So when Roland Taylor, director of the participation of English National Opera, says attract a younger audience is "very much a priority - we must think long term, and it's about creating the future of opera," one might think that everything is very well but what will happen?

ENO and ROH have two great departments of education to promote opera as many people as possible. "Our work begins at school," said Millard "We have mornings available for special schools at a heavily subsidized rate, and providing educational materials to support actions." The ROH has its own learning resources on iTunes U, and their actions show distribution of movie screens across the country, over a giant screen showing live free in the summer, and offers students £ 10 tickets productions that still have places available on the day of performance. They even have a contest for schoolchildren to design the sound of brass bands apart.

"I think it's great that people in the building," said Taylor. "But we must go after them, their parents and teachers excited about the project because, of course, opera is a scary word." To help this cause, ENO Squad has set up its Opera, where his band and artists go to school. "I do not believe in doing things by halves at the ENO. All things that happen in the building is great, but considering all the orchestra from the school shots of a people. "

Sometimes, too, plays a role in programming to attract a different audience. Last summer, the ENO to two children, a composition opera new poster boy modern, Nico Muhly, who, like the opera house, as he worked with pop musicians such as Björk or national. Two boys were promoted with a video that parodies Facebook - which was clearly an opera for the Internet generation. Muhly, however, seeks to highlight two boys was not a concession to a younger audience, but they fit perfectly in the tradition of opera. "The way the Internet works with two children is very similar to how the masked ball, runs on any Mozart opera," he said. "That's what we should tell the truth more person other than deep This is not new, with the chat room. This happens in the Figaro and Cosi and the Greek myths is a fairly standard job .. "

two children, he adds, "is a love story and a

• police
• cyberspace. It's just the delivery system of traditional opera tropes of nostalgia, love, mystery. "
In any case, he says, two boys were probably more informative for the public to traditional opera is one that seeks to capture "One thing that is interesting, I will add, was the exposure of some of the largest members of the choir - whose relationship with the 3D Internet is less someone my age - to the darkest corners of the network I was also a surprise to some prominent members of society of the idea that people can experience emotional relationships online .. "

efforts of both companies have put in getting the young people in the audience to believe that young people are afraid of music in a theatrical setting. This is not the case, however. In fact, there is a genuine interest in the lavish production with a constant flow of music. They are known as musicals. This is the point of Millard on familiarity comes, because that's what music can offer. Known stars, television and pop. Best-known songs, in the form of jukebox musicals that have proliferated with the success of Mamma Mia. Family plots or remake movie sample - Ghost, Shrek, Legally Blonde - or find a second wind when they become movies themselves, like Chicago

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