And yet opera houses throughout the western world these days are packed with enthusiastic devotees. In recent years opera has enjoyed an immense increase in popularity, such that today its enthusiasts far outnumber its detractors.
Opera is arguably the most inclusive of the arts.
Drama, music, dance, and the sheer spectacle of its visual art combine to produce the most irresistible seduction of our senses. Many of the stories, from Otello to La Bohemme, resonate with the familiar themes of love, their arias resound in our memory. Serving as special guests will be opera singer Meagan Miller '96, architectural historian and art dealer Steve Andrews '82, and Craig Fields, Director of the Roanoke Opera Company. We'll enjoy talks on music, text, and performance, along with the lives of famous opera singers and several video recordings of opera. So don't call it excess.