I had a great chat with Farah Nayeri in the New York Times about Italian Opera singing being added to the UNESCO heritage list.
We also talked about Maria Callas at La Scala in a seperate article.
How do you feel about this UNESCO inscription?
Delighted. Any opportunity where opera and classical music are brought into the limelight is important.
What’s significant about opera, and what I love about it, is that it’s the last truly human art form. It’s sung by voices, unamplified, and created by human beings who compose the music and play an instrument in an orchestra. The costumes are designed and made by people. Opera is directed by people, and is meant to resonate in an acoustic and natural space built by people. That’s what’s special about it.
