Blunt, irreverent, and at times wittily subversive, Caitlin Vincent’s OPERA WARS spotlights opera’s colourful and sometimes warring personalities, increasingly fierce controversies over content, and the battles being waged for its economic future.
Even if you’ve never seen an opera, you might be more familiar with it than you think. Looney Tunes parodies several of Richard Wagner’s operas, Apocalypse Now borrows Wagner’s Ride of the Valkyries and Andrew Lloyd Webber’s The Phantom of the Opera holds the title of Broadway’s longest running musical.
But how much do you actually know about the world of opera? We all know that opera on-stage is dramatic. But what happens off-stage – in the pit, in the tension-filled rehearsal rooms, in the boardrooms, and behind the scenes – is equally as dramatic. After all, it’s an industry built on hopes and dreams.
Drawing on interviews with more of two dozen opera insiders – as well as her own experience as an award-winning librettist, trained vocalist, opera company director, and arts commentator, Vincent, deftly unravels clichés and presumptions about this mysterious artform.
What we find is an exposé of the absurdly high-pressure environment in which opera singers, composers, directors, conductors, and librettists find themselves.
In this insider’s look into what makes opera tick, Vincent evokes the cutthroat process of being a professional opera singer, and her experience in founding and running an opera company. As well, she shines a light on the competition, ego, and drive that can send the artform off the rails.
But Vincent doesn’t just bring us the soap-opera drama that goes into auditioning, programming, and producing. She also grapples with some of the biggest issues currently roiling the industry,
Delivering the perfect read for opera experts and newbies alike, Caitlin Vincent makes us feel opera’s irresistible magic. OPERA WARS is witty, sometimes wistful, and endlessly fascinating – a backstage pass to a world of awesome voices, titanic egos, and creative tugs of war that, for all its fire and fury, remains one that tens of thousands are desperate to inhabit.
Caitlin Vincent is an award-winning librettist, trained vocalist, opera company director, and arts commentator. Her librettos have won all three of America’s top opera prizes: the Sackler Music Composition Prize (with composer Douglas Buchanan), the Domenic J. Pellicciotti Opera Composition Prize (with composer Timothy C. Takach), and the 2024/25 Dominick Argento Chamber Opera Competition (with composer Douglas Buchanan).
In addition, her vocal work is featured on the Grammy Award–nominated album 40@40. Vincent was the artistic director of The Figaro Project from 2009 to 2014. She holds a PhD from Deakin University (Australia), an MM in vocal performance from Peabody Conservatory at Johns Hopkins, and a BA in history and literature from Harvard. She was born in the US but currently makes her home in Melbourne.
OPERA WARS: Inside the World of Opera and the Battles for Its Future is published by Simon & Schuster (Scribner Australia) and is available from all great book retailers including QBD Books.
Image: OPERA WARS: Inside the World of Opera and the Battles for Its Future – courtesy of Simon & Schuster