Opera Wars

This is a new book. Condition: Brand New.

Blunt and at times wittily subversive, Opera Wars spotlights opera culture-it's colorful and sometimes warring personalities, increasingly fierce controversies over content, and the battles being waged for its economic future.

Drawing on interviews with dozens of opera insiders-as well as her own experience as an award-winning librettist, vocalist, opera company director, and arts commentator-Caitlin Vincent deftly unravels cliches and presumptions, exposing such debates as how much fidelity is owed to long-dead opera composers whose plots often stir debates over race and gender, whether there's any cure for typecasting that leaves talented performers out of work and other performers chained to the same roles, and what explains the bizarre kowtowing of opera companies to the demands of traditionalist patrons.

Vincent never shrinks from depicting the opera industry's top-to-bottom messiness and its stubborn resistance to change. Yet, like a lover who can't quite break away, she always comes back to her veneration for the art form and in these pages stirringly evokes those moments on stage that can be counted on to make ardent fans of the most skeptical.

Book details and technical specifications

Format: Hardback
ISBN13: 9781668084069
Published: February 2026

Number of pages: 304
Width: 152 mm
Height: 229 mm
Depth: 28 mm

Publisher: Simon & Schuster