After City Opera's first performances with supertitles, a production of La Boheme, she recalls orchestra members saying that they thought something terribly wrong had happened onstage because they had never heard an audience laugh like they laughed at those shows. Sills got the idea after seeing an opera in China during which texts were scrolled at the sides of the stage in two Chinese dialects. She rejects the idea that opera is an elitist art form. Sills points to the availability of operas on videotape and CD, the relaxed attitude toward dress at performances and the relatively inexpensive tickets as evidence that opera is accessible to anyone. She says she often goes to operas at the last minute, and the ushers find her a seat near the back of the theater.
Sills knows all about controlling the costs in opera and all of arts.
At 71, she's directed the New York City Opera and is the chairwoman of Lincoln Center, a major arts complex in New York City. But then Lincoln Center came calling. During the evening, she attended a performance at Lincoln Center and changed clothes for the show at the office. That was a typical day. Sills says of the Lincoln Center gig.