I write this post with bemusement, so don’t take it too seriously. I grew up attending a Christian fundamentalist church. A hymn we often sang (not a great singer, I sort of hummed) had the sweet, heartfelt refrain that I still love, “Softly and tenderly, Jesus is calling, calling oh sinner, come home.” Jesus and I are still on good terms, I trust; fundamentalist religion and I, not so much. But, I think now Jesus has to text us, especially millennials and younger. Linking to his Facebook page or Twitter feed might be the best way to respond. <3u#comehome.BCNU. Remember, just kidding!!
I have no idea if the texting abbreviations I just tried to use made any sense or not. I am not a millennial or younger. The origination of today’s post came from two separate ideas that bumped against each other in my brain this week. First, wondering if you have to be over fifty to like opera, based on having scanned the crowds who attend them. There are occasional signs of appealing to a younger group, but they don’t seem to be sustained. Maybe opera is too much like history to the uninitiated. What if operas were more current and addressed more topical issues for young people? Then yesterday, I visited the opera website, Schmopera (schmopera.com) and found this clip of a ten minute opera, The Connection Lost, that seemed very timely, adhering to the preferred style of millennials, I am thinking. Warning: it has a little language not proper and one very brief and not too revealing sex scene. The clip can be found on YouTube at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=imvYwZjJX0Q&feature=youtu.be, or watch below:
I hope you found the clip as funny as I did. I need to check to see if there is an app that will sing my text messages to me. In a more serious vein, I am collecting examples of new opera and different kinds of opera and ways of presenting opera that I will be reporting on in future posts. B4N.