Tertiary Opera Training in Australia and the UK: Ethnographic Perspective Current formal research into the way institutions and opera companies train their opera singers is virtually non-existent. Paul Atkinson’s (2006) Everyday Arias:... more
Tertiary Opera Training in Australia and the UK: Ethnographic Perspective
Current formal research into the way institutions and opera companies train their opera singers is virtually non-existent. Paul Atkinson’s (2006) Everyday Arias: An Operatic Ethnography, is an informative but lonely example of otherwise neglected area. Atkinson proposes that while popular culture receives extensive research attention, the “high” culture suffers from a so-called academic “inverse snobbery”.
This thesis surveys some of the complex issues specific to operatic training and performance. The ethnographic survey draws on observations and comparisons of production rehearsals, private lessons and personal interviews of participants in a professional Australian opera company, an Australian tertiary institution and a UK tertiary institution. Two professional and two student productions are used as case studies to highlight the emergent themes.
This research aims to better understand the unique nature of the operatic training and rehearsal process, as well as investigate the relationship between institutions and the contemporary opera industry.
Keywords: opera, ethnography, tertiary opera training, opera rehearsal, Australian opera training, opera industry
