Opera on Tap NYC
Our mission as a not- for-profit 501(c)3 company, is to promote opera as a viable, living and progressive art form deserving a place on the American cultural landscape.
In 2005 we created Opera on Tap as a performance outlet for our friends and ourselves. We wanted an opera “gig” in the vein of the New York rock or jazz gig. Freddy’s Bar and Backroom provided us with the opportunity. It was an affordable way to have fun together and work on our music at the same time… Guess what else happened…
We discovered a new audience starved for intense, acoustic, musical experiences!
More often than not, opera is perceived in this country to be elitist, pretentious, stuffy and boring. Going to the opera means dressing up, shelling out a lot of money, putting on an air of sophistication and most importantly, not making any noise whatsoever, unless it’s the appropriate time to applaud the diva. There is indeed a tradition of behavior at the “Opera”: Act classier than you really are. In America, opera is placed on a high pedestal, so high unfortunately that the average Joe is throwing his hands up and spending his money elsewhere.
Tickets aren’t selling so well at Opera houses around the country. Why? We believe that many Americans have never felt comfortable entering an opera house. Since opera is not a part of our national historic, cultural foundation it doesn’t pervade the American psyche, say, the way rock & roll does. The majority of the operatic repertoire isn’t written in our language after all. But for those of us out there who have been exposed to its beauty and have developed a passion for it, it is a transcendent art form where music drives drama and character. Many people who come to Opera on Tap are people who have never set foot in an opera house. The response? Overwhelming. We pack the house every time and have a growing list of regulars.
