Philip Kennicott explains just where most opera companies are going wrong with their education programmes in July's Opera News - and what they could learn from comic book fan culture.
American opera companies I should point out are generally much more tuned in to audience requirements than British ones. Many have at least taken the first step of including synopses and other background information on their websites. But Kennicott recognises they need to do more:
"The who, what, where, when and why of opera, which is often the meat and potatoes of educational efforts, is all well and good. But the question "How good is it?" is far more compelling. And an audience driven to answer that question will learn all the rest of what it needs to know along the way, without even being aware of it as education."
Required reading for opera administrators everywhere.
