Since then, public broadcasts have not increased much, with the exception of the HD Met, which, as you can imagine, is doing very very well out here, probably (just a theory) because of the baby-boomer exodus to the West and their childhood memories of East coast culture, and not because younger people are attracted to the opera.

I feel like I know the European opera houses better (except for the Met) because many of the broadcasts make it to television, and eventually Youtube. Yet, here in Arizona, at our little Arizona Opera company, I heard some astounding performances, the likes of
which will not be known to the world due to lack of public exposure and money to support such exposure.

Does that exposure bring young people to opera in Europe? Someone might be able to enlighten me on that topic, or is it the predominance of Regie theater in Europe that brings younger people, or, both? I just feel a bit sad for these young American singers who could benefit from having their voices heard all over the world, and, for the world not being able to hear them. Will we ever see a Santa Fe performance on Youtube?

“Would” is not the same as “will.” I remember that toward the end of the Volpe era, it was pointed out to him that over the previous decade, the median age of the audience had increased by ten years. He shrugged and said, “Oh, well, 70 is the new 60.” The problem with this thinking, of course, is that eventually dead is the audience.

My impression is that the “go to the Met once in your lifetime while visiting beautiful New York City” was failing pretty badly by the early 2000s. I certainly don’t remember any of the Tosca performances (except on those occasions when Pavarotti would totter out) as being a “stampede to the box office.”

I have to say, too, Gualtier, that I would be wary of deriving any sort of box office truisms (whether at the Met or any other performing venue) from the past couple of seasons. We’re having the worst economic downturn since the 1930s, which is surely impacting ticket sales more powerfully than stage decor.

Another yardstick of a successful production is how well it plays in revival without the original cast. “Damnation” has been doing poorly at the box office. The Taymor “Flute” (lest ye forget a Volpe baby first to last) did well for several years but then declined recently after all the Taymor groupies had seen it already.

I suspect that a revival of the Bondy production of “Tosca” with the current level of casting in dramatic Italian operas would not start a stampede to the box office. If Maria Callas came back from the dead yes. If Netrebko or Fleming took on Floria. Otherwise, the Zeffirelli could be thrown up there with mediocre casting (as it nearly invariably was) and people would come. Like in “Cats” on Broadway people came to see the sets, not the stars. Very eighties.

Would you please elaborate on this astonishing piece of information?

ENTRACTE : Toujours trop long