Young people become opera regulars

Angel Vargas

La Jornada Newspaper, Thursday, June 26, 2025, p. 2

The reports paint an encouraging picture: sold-out tickets, increasing and renewed audiences, and balanced and even daring repertoires. But behind the apparent new boom in opera in Mexico, there are fundamental debates.

Researchers, critics, and fans agree on this, following recent official statements about a strengthening of this lyrical genre, aimed at creating new audiences.

Claudia Curiel de Icaza, head of the federal Ministry of Culture, highlighted a few days ago that, in the last eight months, the National Institute of Fine Arts and Literature (INBAL) has presented 26 opera performances—10 at the Palace of Fine Arts and 16 in other venues—which brought together more than 20,000 attendees.

One of our commitments is to create new audiences in a genre that might seem only for specialists , said the official, referring to the large number of young, new people who, according to her, were attracted by Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk and Rigoletto , the first two productions this year by the National Opera Company (CNO) at the Palace of Fine Arts.

Music historian and researcher Octavio Sosa—a regular at opera productions for over half a century—confirms the official version: The audience has increased overall, but especially among young people. Tickets are very affordable, cheaper than those for a soccer match or a pop concert .

However, the former head of the CNO clarifies that this phenomenon has its antecedents in the mid-2000s, when that group opened dress rehearsals free of charge and were packed with audiences , in addition to the expectation of a program that began to go beyond the titles in the repertoire.

The increase in attendance goes beyond the last eight or nine months , he says. What I have seen is that, during this period, tickets sell out as soon as they go on sale .

Salvador Méndez Padilla, who has been in charge of supertitling opera productions at Bellas Artes since 1993 and has been a fan of the genre since 1967, observes that while performances are packed with young people, the traditional audience has declined, partly due to the natural passage of time, but also because they have lost their appeal.

The legendary singers who once made up the casts have rapidly declined in the last 20 years. This isn't exclusive to Mexico; it's seen all over the world , explains the musicologist and director of the Carlo Morelli Competition, the most important singing competition in the country, since 2006.

“For new audiences who don't have those parameters, it's appealing to attend such an exciting show. We see this in the offering of new titles—many of them national premieres—beyond the canonical opera repertoire. This has led to a gradual process of audience renewal.”

Music critic José Noé Mercado strikes a discordant note, warning of the complexity of reporting a real increase in audiences. To achieve this, the CNO would have to hold more annual performances than in the last quarter-century, which won't happen, among other reasons because the Palacio de Bellas Artes is packed with multidisciplinary events. "There's no room for more ," he argues.

There haven't even been 35 annual performances this century. In fact, they're fewer. We're halfway through the year, and they haven't even reached 15. It's a matter of crunching the numbers. We also have to consider the population of Mexico City or the country as a whole to consider whether we should ring the bells like Shakira with her sold-out concerts and the number of attendees. That would give us humility and perspective to ground us.

The writer, who has been attending opera for nearly three decades, maintains that the global trend of attendance at this genre has been declining in recent years.

In Europe, fans have aged, and producers are struggling to renew that interest in younger generations in the face of the diversity of entertainment available. When this happens, young people find themselves facing ticket prices they can't necessarily afford. Is the CNO bucking this often critical global trend?

▲ Images captured during the performance of Rigoletto on May 8 at the Palacio de Bellas Artes. Photo courtesy of CNO-Inbal

Sosa attributes the current appetite for lyrical art to a successful program that balances new and daring titles – including premieres in the country or Latin America, as is the case of Un re in ascolto , which the CNO will present in three performances starting July 1 to celebrate the centenary of Luciano Berio's birth – with tried-and-tested titles, such as La Bohème or Turandot .

It also highlights the role of technology, specifically the live broadcasts of the MET in New York at the National Auditorium, and that due to the pandemic many dedicated themselves to watching opera or discovered it at that time, through digital platforms .

Méndez Padilla also believes that the shift in programming has been crucial in attracting new fans, which began to become more evident following the renovation of the Palacio de Bellas Artes about 15 years ago.

"It's not just the 'workhorses'—the works in the repertoire—there's been a good offering in recent years of more contemporary repertoire. This attracts a younger audience more than the traditional audiences who have been coming for decades."

Another essential factor, he says, is the introduction of supertitling since 1992: People understand everything that's being sung and experience it in its theatrical, emotional aspect, not just in the music. This feature has allowed many people to approach opera with less caution .

Leaving behind previous administrations of the CNO has been an incentive , according to José Noé Mercado, who, like Sosa and Méndez Padilla, celebrates the arrival of Argentine Marcelo Lombardero – an experienced figure in various branches of the operatic field – to the artistic direction of that group in the current six-year term.

However, he questions: Was an imported character necessary to achieve this? Hasn't our operatic work, over the years, created a profile with that vision and leadership ability?

In his opinion, the approach of the current season, which announces some contemporary titles with other classics, has probably also shaken the public out of its lethargy or disinterest .

Although, he emphasizes, "many opera lovers have stopped going to the Palacio de Bellas Artes and have confessed their weariness, seemingly insurmountable, with the programming of recent years."

And he adds: So, who attended those sold-out performances? Were those tickets sold or reserved for invited guests? I don't find it objectionable to take advantage of the seats, but who does it, and on what grounds? Do they return to opera, do they become fans of it?

While he believes there can't be any talk of a new golden age for this art form in Mexico, Sosa emphasizes the boom it's also experiencing in Guadalajara, Monterrey, Mazatlán, and Colima. This wasn't the case 15 years ago; everything was very centralized . Based on this, the music historian and researcher is optimistic about the future.

For Méndez Padilla, opera in Mexico is indeed in a golden age, because at one point, there was a certain apathy. There were huge gaps in the auditorium and other areas of Bellas Artes, and now performances are displaying "sold out" signs .

In a critical tone, José Noé Mercado concludes: “Those performances that have good attendance or sold out seats could lead us to ask whether box office will now be a parameter for accountability in artistic management, or whether it will influence the allocation of a smaller or larger budget, or the design of a specific programming, since currently—that is, for years now—the box office has not, strictly speaking, influenced decision-making or considerations regarding what is offered to the public.”

Angel Vargas

La Jornada Newspaper, Thursday, June 26, 2025, p. 3

Marcelo Lombardero, who has led the National Opera Company as artistic director since November, believes the recent phenomenon of packed performances and tickets selling out in advance should be treated with caution .

“It's too early to make a clear analysis. We're going through this first season, and for me, it's been a great success. I've seen it work since the year's opening performance: Berlioz's choral symphony Romeo and Juliet ; we sold out quickly. Although it wasn't a premiere in Mexico, it was the first time the Bellas Artes Opera performed that work,” explains the Argentine stage director and singer (Entre Ríos, 1964).

The reference to creating new audiences doesn't just mean a full house; in other words, the main thing is to fill it and sell out the venues, but if that were the only reason, we wouldn't program opera. We'd be doing massive shows.

In an interview , the cultural manager – who directed the Teatro Colón, one of the most important opera houses in Latin America, and the Teatro Argentino in La Plata – warns that mass culture is often confused with popular culture and vice versa.

But things are different. The idea is for the shows to fill theaters and be successful, but also to reach diverse audiences to broaden the audience , he maintains.

“Gerard Mortier—director of the Paris Opera, among other major theaters—used to say that sometimes it was necessary for the theaters to be empty. It's a metaphor: sometimes it's important to present shows that don't initially have a massive following, but are culturally relevant events for a certain type of audience.”

Among the policies to access new audiences, Lombardero highlights the programming of risky, more contemporary proposals, such as Un re in ascolto ( A King Listens ) , the next title that the CNO will present in three performances starting July 1 at the Palacio de Bellas Artes.

“Traditional audiences are a bit reticent about these shows because they expect to see their favorite works, the four or five that remain in the famous repertoire: La Traviata , La Bohème , Carmen ,” he notes.

On the other hand, there is an audience that is interested in contemporary music or modern theater and literature. This is also what we're aiming for, an audience that views opera with a prejudice as an outdated spectacle. However, we will now perform this work with music by Luciano Berio and text by Italo Calvino, which will be a Latin American premiere. A musical, aural, and visual experience that is rarely possible to witness.

Without formulas

–So, should we take risks with proposals that don't always appeal to the general public?

–Exactly. For me, not only did we fill five performances, but we also sold out before the premiere of Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk —a Shostakovich opera that was unknown in Mexico—and that this transcended the operatic sphere, that seems like a success.

▲ Scenes from Lady Macbeth during its performance at the Palacio de Bellas Artes. Photo courtesy of CNO-Inbal

“Our focus is on this diverse perspective that encompasses the widest possible audience: those who enjoy romantic opera, classical opera, innovations, modernity, and crossovers between different languages ​​such as theater, music, and dance.

This is the meaning we give to programming. It's still too early to give a verdict on how we're doing. I think we're doing well. Loyalty and the creation of new audiences must continue to generate what we want: a critical mass. We're not looking for the audience to agree with what we do, but rather for them to challenge us.

–What project are you coming to the CNO with, both to serve existing fans and to create new ones?

–That's the great challenge: there's no formula. I was fortunate to be in charge of two very important theaters in my country, and in both, we were successful in the campaigns we launched. Here, the situations and production methods are different. I'm learning a lot now, and I have a wealth of experience in Mexico from everything I did here as a stage director.

“Programming is the artistic director's way of speaking to the community; it encompasses the ideological dimension and the idea. What I always try to do is, first, strike a balance between tradition and experimentation; also, to push the boundaries a bit and offer innovative shows, premieres, works that haven't been performed in the country, the city, or the theater.”

On the other hand, strive for artistic excellence. The production should interest the audience, but not just leave them with a feeling of beauty, but rather leave them thinking, so that it excites them. Opera is a grand spectacle, and that's how it has to work. Otherwise, there's no way to capture the audience. Furthermore, very aggressive communication policies are essential; they're essential today.

–How to make opera accessible to unfamiliar audiences?

–There are several approaches. First, appeal to the interested public, try to capture their interests in terms of the staging, the reading of the play, and the choice of repertoire. Second, go beyond the Palacio de Bellas Artes, because these types of venues are generally expellable: the cost of admission, the dress code, the prior knowledge required. There's a whole audience that doesn't come out of fear, prejudice, or complexes.

"The idea, then, is to get closer, for which the Bellas Artes Opera Studio (EOBA)—the CNO's artistic development center—is a fundamental tool. We think of it as a kind of traveling company; we propose a series of shows that can travel.

We also work on co-productions with UNAM to offer these types of light-hearted works of general interest to families, or pieces with a strong and interesting theatrical bent. We aim to provide opportunities for young singers from the EOBA to gain exposure, but also to provide opportunities for those who don't normally have access to these shows.

AFP

La Jornada Newspaper, Thursday, June 26, 2025, p. 4

Basel. This year's Basel Art Fair painted a portrait of a troubled world, combining large-scale installations about the pursuit of happiness with works related to the fragility of democracies.

Founded in 1970 by art dealer Ernst Beyeler and two other Basel gallery owners, Art Basel is one of the world's leading annual events for contemporary art.

In its section dedicated to monumental works, the fair this year presented an 85-meter-long installation entitled The Voyage - A March to Utopia .

The work, created by the studio of Dutch artist Joep van Lieshout, included 80 large sculptures that form a procession of absurd objects, all moving in the same direction , on the way to a happy world , the artist explained to AFP.

Another work by Spanish artist Jaume Plensa, composed of 21 doors engraved with articles from the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, approved by the United Nations General Assembly in 1948.

The work Forgotten Dreams invited us to contemplate collective aspirations and not forget the horrors of the past.

Vietnamese-born Danish artist Danh Vo installed a massive American flag made of wooden logs and decorated with 13 steel stars, referencing the first version of the American flag from 1777.

The work was created in 2020, during the election campaign pitting Donald Trump against Joe Biden, and was reconstructed for presentation this year at Art Basel.

In its first version, the logs were gradually removed and burned in fireplaces, gradually making the flag disappear.

The artist wanted to express an allegory of the fragile state of the American democratic project.

Every year, the Basel Art Fair hosts an (Unlimited) section of monumental pieces destined for museums and large collections. This section also includes older works, such as a 1991 performance by Félix González-Torres, a Cuban-born American artist who died of AIDS in 1996.

The work has no title, but is known as Go-Go Dancing platform .

The performance consists of a man dressed in silver shorts dancing for a few minutes on a podium twice a day.

"It's interesting to see it again ," Giovanni Carmine, curator of Unlimited, told AFP.

The artist had created this work shortly after the death of his partner, in a context that was also very reactionary , where some spoke of AIDS as a divine punishment .

The Art Basel exhibition hall featured 67 works this year, including three angels by German sculptor Thomas Schütte, which expressed a certain ambivalence , Carmine noted.

Meanwhile, Japanese artist Izumi Kato added a touch of poetry with his stone structures, painted with enigmatic faces, inspired by the Japanese tradition that each stone contains a spirit , he explained.

And American Arlene Shechet played with contrasts through a heavy orange abstract sculpture designed to give an impression of lightness despite its weight.

The current political situation is grim, so I'm bringing lightness and color , Shecet noted.

▲ The Fundació Joan Miró art museum in Barcelona is holding an open house to commemorate the institution's 50th anniversary. These events honor one of Spain's most famous artists, Joan Miró, and the foundation he founded half a century ago. Miró, who died in 1983 at the age of 90, was a giant of the surrealist movement, known for his playful, abstract paintings featuring bright geometric shapes and calligraphic lines resembling doodles. The museum, located in a modernist building on a hilltop in Barcelona, ​​houses a vast collection of his paintings, sculptures, and other works. Photo: Afp

La Jornada Newspaper, Thursday, June 26, 2025, p. 4