Opera in a Multicultural World

Through historical and contemporary examples, this book critically explores the relevance and expressions of multicultural representation in western European operatic genres in the modern world. It reveals their approaches to reflecting identity, transmitting meaning, and inspiring creation, as well as the ambiguities and contradictions that occur across the time and place(s) of their performance. This collection brings academic researchers in opera studies into conversation with previously unheard voices of performers, critics, and creators to speak to issues of race, ethnicity, and culture in the genre. Together, they deliver a powerful critique of the perpetuation of the values and practices of dominant cultures in operatic representations of intercultural encounters. Essays accordingly cross methodological boundaries in order to focus on a central issue in the emerging field of coloniality: the hierarchies of social and political power that include the legacy of racialized practices. In theorizing coloniality through intercultural exchange in opera, authors explore a range of topics and case studies that involve immigrant, indigenous, exoticist, and other cultural representations and consider a broad repertoire that includes lesser-known Canadian operas, Chinese- and African-American performances, as well as works by Haydn, Strauss, Puccini, and Wagner, and in performances spanning three continents and over two centuries. In these ways, the collection contributes to the development of a more integrated understanding of the interdisciplinary fields inherent in opera, including musicology, sociology, anthropology, and others connected to Theatre, Gender, and Cultural Studies.

Mary I. Ingraham is Professor of Musicology at the University of Alberta. Her research examines the socio-political context for cultural creation in Canada, particularly as it reflects intercultural encounters between European, indigenous, and immigrant cultures. She has published a catalogue of Canadian operas, on interculturality, and has written online educational materials for the Canadian Music Centre.

Joseph K. So is Professor Emeritus of Anthropology at Trent University. A medical anthropologist, Professor So also specializes in the anthropology of race and racism, with a focus on the representation of race in the performing arts/opera. In addition to many articles and chapters in anthropology, he has had an eighteen-year history of writing articles on music and opera. He is Associate Editor of Opera Canada, Canadian correspondent for Opera (UK), and Associate Editor of La Scena Musicale/ The Music Scene.

Roy Moodley is Associate Professor in Counseling Psychology at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education at the University of Toronto. Research and publication interests include traditional and cultural healing; multicultural and diversity counseling; race, culture, and ethnicity in psychotherapy; and masculinities.