Brian Deedrick

Everybody has an opinion: whether in the LRT station, the theatre lobby, or my voicemail, it seems that everyone has an opinion about opera. For centuries, people have voiced their ideas in the strongest of ways, and not everyone feels the same way as me.
For example...

Nietzsche:
What is too stupid and embarrassing to say, people sing.

Perhaps he should have stuck to philosophy, but Nietzsche was not alone in just not quite getting it:

Voltaire:
One goes to see a tragedy to be moved; one goes to the opera either for want of any other interest, or to facilitate digestion.

Ouch. And:

Molière :
The most expensive noise known to man is opera.

Clearly some of the greats had little use for the breathtaking and beautiful music which influences so many of our lives. Moli�re was certainly correct about the price tag, but after all, the opera is the greatest and grandest art form of them all.

For me, I have to agree with Samuel Johnson's description of opera as

...an exotic and irrational entertainment ...

There is simply no easy explanation for the way by which opera takes hold and overwhelms us by its beauty and passion. Opera is irrational, and left even its greatest composer at a loss for words:

Verdi:
I have adored this art, and I adore it still. And when I shut myself alone with my notes, my heart beats, the tears stream down my face and my emotion and pleasure are indescribable.

I can appreciate Verdi's feelings for, when left alone with his musical notes, my responses are exactly the same. But the closest attempt to describe the indescribable, and to explain the magic and majesty of opera comes from one of the last interviews with the late, great, Richard Bradshaw:

Opera, at its best, is a cathartic experience, communicating the most profound thoughts and feelings to an audience that is sharing all the risks and dangers of a live performance.

It's what I dream of opera doing for you. It's a privilege and a pleasure to invite you to share in the "risks and dangers" of live opera with the 45th season of this great company. We come to know each other, and ourselves, through the arts: please join us at Edmonton Opera ... and discover.