LET THEM EAT CRUMBS:

Schools Will Get Opera Simulcast (Tim Page, 5/12/07, Washington Post)

Washington National Opera will present a live simulcast of a matinee performance of Puccini's "La Boheme" to at least 16 colleges, universities and high schools across the nation Sept. 23. The troupe will also present its free simulcast to the Mall.

The institutions that will participate include the University of Virginia, Princeton, West Point, Wellesley, Rice and the University of Washington. High schools on both coasts will be represented, including Brockton High in Massachusetts and Lowell High in San Francisco.

The performance will take place at the Kennedy Center Opera House. The simulcast will be offered to the schools free of charge, with the cost -- about $15,000 per institution -- borne by WNO trustees.

If you want to build a new audience for opera why only make it available in dribs and drabs? At a minimum, it seems like the decades of opera broadcasts from NPR and PBS ought to be on-line and accessible.

Posted by Orrin Judd at May 12, 2007 12:00 AM