In an interview with the New York Times, house boss Peter Gelb and musical director Yannick Nézet-Séguin detail the Met’s change of course and discuss no less than seventeen contemporary operatic works over the next five years.
While the Met in New York has seen a lasting drop in attendance since the pandemic (the hall occupancy rate fell from 73% to 61%), the creation of the opera The Hours by Kevin Puts recently sold out. Better still, this adaptation of Michael Cunningham’s novel and Stephen Daldry’s film, which brought together Renée Fleming, Joyce DiDonato and Kelli O’Hara, attracted spectators who were not used to coming to the Opera: not less than 40% of them had never been to the Met. Faced with this observation, the New York institution has decided to make a 360-degree turn: exit bel canto, make way for the contemporary. The Hours is even rescheduled next season – a feat considering the schedules of the three divas. But these, enthusiastic, would not even have hesitated to reorganize their respective agendas: “ They were very easy to convince, because they wanted to do it. […] It’s artistically very satisfying for them to work with the composers and really be part of the creative process. “, explains Peter Gelb in the interview he gave to the American daily The New York Timesalongside the institution’s musical director, Yannick Nézet-Séguin.
“Good Contemporary Opera”
Over the next five years, no less than seventeen contemporary operas will be presented on the Maison Lyrique stage, seven of which are commissions. On the program in particular: Demons by Matthew Aucoin (who returns after his opera Eurydice given last season), inspired by a novel by Dostoyevsky, an opera by Huang Ruo on the American experience lived by Asians and whose text is signed by the film scriptwriter James Schamus, as well as an operatic adaptation of the hollywood comedy moonlight (1987) by composer Ricky Ian Gordon, to a libretto written by script writer John Patrick Shanley. Knowing that The Hours was also inspired by the film of the same name with Meryl Streep, Nicole Kidman and Julianne Moore, it would seem that the contemporary operas programmed at the Met are largely inspired by the cinematographic universe. And the two acolytes of the institution explain it, it is not a question of mounting any kind of contemporary operas to put the ship back afloat, but of betting on ” good contemporary opera “, which resonates with the sensitivity of the public: “ It’s not a question of tonality or atonality, it’s much bigger. It’s about touching the audience, connecting to their emotions through music, and being more careful to reflect their reality. », explains Yannick Nézet-Séguin.
Remedy against routine
If some are worried about seeing the great classics disappear (there will be no bel canto from the beginning of the 19e century next year, underlines the journalist who carried out the interview), Peter Gelb wants to be reassuring, affirming that, over several years, all the repertoires will be represented. An organization which, according to Yannick Nézet-Séguin, would also avoid falling into routine: “ We could say to ourselves, “Our last Don Pasquale was six years ago, [il faut le programmer].” But do we have the ideal distribution to mount it? No, so maybe we’ll wait another two years », illustrates the Quebec conductor. It must be said that recently, operas like Bohemian about Puccini Aida by Verdi or Carmen by Bizet, long acclaimed by conservative theater audiences, did not arouse enthusiasm at all. The production of Don Carlo by Verdi only filled 40% of the seats. If the observation is surprising, in reality the Met is only rediscovering the spirit it had when it was founded in 1883. Composers of the time such as Puccini and Granados were then part of the daily life of the house: “ In the 1910s, fifteen creations were performed on the stage of the theater “, recalls the New York media. Nothing new, just a return to basics!
