The opera house of the future must include the production of newly-written works as a substantial part of the programme. What follows is an invitation to join in the reflection on new organisational models for the opera house of the near future and to put this question at the top of the agenda.
Appearances can, however, be deceptive.
Either the opera houses of the future will succeed in rejuvenating and restructuring themselves, or else we had better close them down, with a few fortunate exceptions that we can then cherish as museums of lyric drama. At present they are almost all museums. Despite the current debate, and contrary to appearances, most opera houses suffer from the same malaise. The most important reason is that many intendants of opera houses are completely out of touch with what is going on in contemporary music and the visual arts, and present-day performing arts in general. It is precisely because of this lack of contact with current developments that many new operas are extremely dated in aesthetic and artistic terms and that to many people opera therefore remains a moribund art.