Participatory Opera

Power and Agency in Post-Wagnerian Performance
1. Auflage 2026
ISBN: 978-1-032-39024-6
Verlag: Taylor & Francis Ltd

Buch, Englisch, 256 Seiten, Format (B × H): 156 mm x 234 mm, Gewicht: 453 g

Reihe: Ashgate Interdisciplinary Studies in Opera

Through the examination of participatory theories and practices, Participatory Opera offers a critical analysis of popular descriptions of spectator immersion and participation in contemporary opera, and explores resultant intersections with notions of individuality and community within these emerging contexts. As such, this book defines participatory opera, explores ways it challenges traditional roles of "audience," "performer," and "author," and situates Euro-American participatory opera within the broader context of participatory philosophy, theory, and art of the twentieth century. Part I examines key philosophies and theories surrounding audience participation throughout the twentieth century that later manifest in experimental opera works. Part II draws together the diverse practices and approaches described in the previous chapters towards a unifying theory of participatory opera through several focused case studies of twenty-first-century participatory operas. As a whole, this book reveals participatory opera as a contested site of meaning and intention, particularly agile and adaptive, and inherently value-laden, political, and antagonistic.

Academic yet accessible, this book is primarily intended for scholars and graduate students, although professionals and practitioners may also find it appealing. Opera scholars will find this book addresses a critical element of contemporary opera. Likewise, scholars of participatory art will find it reveals that opera, too, engages with participatory practices and histories and should be incorporated into discourses surrounding participatory art. Scholars of experimental and avant-garde music and theater will find this text re-examines the relationship between opera and experimental art and theater.

Zielgruppe

Postgraduate, Professional Practice & Development, and Undergraduate Advanced

Autoren/Hrsg.

Caton, Kathryn L.

Fachgebiete

• Geisteswissenschaften Theater- und Filmwissenschaft | Andere Darstellende Künste Theaterwissenschaft
• Geisteswissenschaften Musikwissenschaft Musikgattungen Opernmusik
• Geisteswissenschaften Musikwissenschaft Geschichte der Musik

Inhaltsverzeichnis

Introduction: Opera and Participation

Part One: The Rhetoric of Participation

1. Participation and Power, 2. Towards Theater: The Art-Life Merger, 3. Discoursing Site-Specific and Participatory Values

Part Two: Participatory Opera in the Twenty-First Century

4. Between Rhetoric and Reality: Participation in Invisible Cities and Hopscotch, 5. I Want to Know You: Process, Genre, and Activism, 6. Another City: New Genre Public Opera

Conclusion: A Contested Site

Über Autor(innen)

Kathryn L. Caton teaches music history at the University of Houston, Moores School of Music. Her research interests include twentieth- and twenty-first-century opera, the long avant-garde, and experimental, collaborative, and participatory performance. She has presented research at local, national, and international conferences and serves as the co-chair of the Society for American Music’s Experimental Music Interest Group.