R8 Ur Opera Haus: aka, First Class Vs. Coach In The Opera World. The Opera Caucus Has Begun

Our affectionate, snazzily opinionated reader Crew Mantle has just pawsted a comment full of his trademark sprezzatura where he rates opera houses in first, second tier, and provincial.

OC thinks that the list -- and guidelines -- make a lot of sense (even if she might move one up, one down, when reading CM's list, esp. because we do think that San Francisco's audience is definitely first class).

But the debate is worthy: rate opera houses. First Class or coach?   

Here's CM's comment:

Top Tier (in no order as they are equal)

Teatro alla Scala
The Royal Opera House, Covent Garden
The Metropolitan Opera
Opéra National de Paris
Deutsche Oper Berlin
Teatro dell'Opera di Roma
Gran Teatro del Liceu

Second Tier (in no order as they are equal)

Chicago Lyric
San Francisco Opera
Sydney Opera
El Palacio de Bellas Artes
Teatro Colon
Gran Teatro La Fenice
Wiener Staatsoper

Provincial Houses

All the rest.

As we said, we might not agree 100% with the rating above -- actually, we'd move SF up and Paris down, and La Scala is in serious danger of slipping in the second tier by 2010 or even '09 -- but it does make a lot of sense.

Now, dear readers, here's your chance to make your voice heard. Just behave and be nice to each other, or OC will have one of her butlers spank you. In a not sexy way.

Comments

[coccodrillo]

A lot of what's in Salzburg is def. first rate

[pee wee barnum]

ROH FTW!!!!!!!!!

[Andrew Powell]

Obviously Vienna belongs in Mr. Mantle's "Top Tier" and not the second. The Berlin Staatsoper, in his "Provincial" category, has for some years been a higher ticket than the Deutsche Oper. Zurich is missing. Mariinsky is missing. Both beat London and Rome. Bellas Artes and Teatro Colon have no money. Even Australians joke that their best house has its interior in Melbourne and only its exterior in Sydney. Are the houses in Naples, Los Angeles, Moscow, Munich, Hamburg all too weak for his list?

[Charles]

Paris is second tier
Salzburg is missing from second tier
Vienna is first tier
La Fenice and Sydney are first class for architecture, but probably third tier for music

[Jen]

Zurich is First Class. Ditto Vienna. Sydney? Why?

[Opera Chic]

Andrew Powell, money doesn't matter that much, it can't, in our game. Because if it does, then Katherine Jenkins outsells anybody else and buries everybody under an avalanche of cash, and the debate's over.

Also, everybody, please try to keep your comments focused on the issue and not on other users, thank you very!

[flipstinger]

Top Tier (in no order as they are equal)
aight here's mine!

TOP TIER
Teatro alla Scala
Teatro dell'Opera di Roma
Gran Teatro del Liceu
Teatro Real Madrid
The Royal Opera House, Covent Garden
The Metropolitan Opera

i haven't seen the one in Berlin nor Paris, therefore, can't really comment on them...

[Gert]

I went through a similar exercise on rmo, but included a 'special' category for Bayreuth, Salzburg and Glyndebourne.

Some of the above could swing it either way for Top Tier or Second Tier, but I have to join in the other comments that put Vienna in Top Tier. In fact, there is one version of collective wisdom what says Top Tier is just four (Milan, Vienna, NY, London).

In popular/mass culture, outside of opera aficionados, it is sometimes Vienna and sometimes La Scala that are synonymous with Top Opera Classy Elite for Top Classy Elite People (plus whichever House happens to be local to the purveyor of pop culture, so British-based pop culture will include Covent Garden, as US based pop culture will mention the Met).

The list is incomplete without Zurich and Madrid. There could be an argument for La Monnaie but I'm not the one to make it.

[dze]

Top Tier

Teatro alla Scala
The Metropolitan Opera
Opéra National de Paris
Deutsche Oper Berlin
Gran Teatro del Liceu
Teatro dell'Opera di Roma
The Royal Opera House, Covent Garden

Zurich and Geneva are missing!
Salzburg is actually NOT missing :)

[Micaëla]

I mostly agree, but Zurich and the Bayerische Staatsoper (Munich) need to be on there somewhere.

Vienna's crazy rep system makes it difficult to classify--sometimes it is most definitely "first tier" but sometimes seriously not. All big rep houses have their on and off nights but I think Vienna's are more extreme than most.

[charles laughton]

The absence of Munich from any of these lists I find simply bizzare, as it has been the dominant German theater since the postwar era. I've seen night after night of substandard productions and singing in all 3 Berlin houses, but rarely in Munich. Salzburg had the highest production standards for decades, and many singers at the top level loved to sing there- in Herbie's days major singers could be found in smaller roles, now minor singers do major roles. Times change.

I'm afraid I have to take issue with the money question- Bellas Artes hasn't done major league opera since the early 1950s, and money has a lot to do with it- it's an expensive artform. The company primarily puts up painted flats for it's productions, and rarely bothers to even dust them- I remember a rehearsal where one of the sets collapsed, and a wonderful Mexican tenor came up to me, smiled and said, "welcome to the third world, Maestro". Wonderful people, but the theater shouldn't be on anyones top list.

[Il Principe Studente]

Wot? no Verona?

[beatrice cherubini]

well, it's hard to respond to this list since the criteria are not really clear. But if we use casting/conducting of the last 10 years or so as the criterion, the top-tier list would have to include (in no order, not because they are all equal, but because I am too lazy, and ignoring festivals for the same reason):

First Tier:

Wiener Staatsoper
Teatro alla Scala
The Royal Opera House, Covent Garden
Opéra National de Paris
Teatro Real Madrid
Gran Teatro del Liceu
The Metropolitan Opera
Munich Staatsoper
Berlin Staatsoper
Zurich
Teatro dell'Opera di Roma (maybe - I've never been)

Second Tier:

Hamburg
Dresden
Gran Teatro La Fenice
Deutsche Oper Berlin
Mariinsky
Chicago Lyric (slowly descending to 3rd tier)
San Francisco Opera (slowly descending to 3rd tier)
Los Angeles Opera (rapidly descending to 3rd tier)

Third Tier:

Everything else

[Jerry]

Munich definitely should be in the first tier. Glyndebourne should be in the second tier, as should Zurich and Mariinsky.

[Dean Smith]

Where does the Houston Wortham Center fit in?., or does it?

[Steve in Cleveland]

I can't speak to many of them, but I definitely concur with the comment on the Berlin houses above. The Staatsoper sometimes has rather provincial casting, but the Deutsche Oper is a morgue. On the nights when Barenboim is in the pit and good singers are on stage, the Staatsoper is definitely the place to be for opera lovers in Berlin. Actually it's not a bad place to be on lesser nights either.

[Agent]

I can't believe nobody has challenged the Met being in the first tier, not in decades! Sure, there are some stellar moments, but there are stellar moments in Miami too. The Met does not maintain enough good singing to be in the first tier.

[Jerry]

Re: the Met being is still in the first tier. But as the current emphasis on marketing/hype over substance percolates downward through the company, it may well soon be a second tier house.

[Bardassa]

Sydney Opera House is second tier!? I take it you mean the house and not the company (Opera Australia) that perform in it. I'm flattered that our national company (or the house at least) ranks alongside Vienna, Teatro Colon and La Fenice.

[Mei]

I must say Gran Teatre del Liceu's Program is improving every year... It's a pleasure and a priviledge to be a susbscriber... :-D

I think we cannot compare Opera Houses, with a complete season, and Festivals, with a short program...

[AG]

aw.
what about NYcity opera 2nd teir?
and houston?

[Bill Philin-Ploplis]

Please don't undervalue Chicago's Lyric Opera. True, it does not offer a 15-20 opera stagione, but it does offer at least 8-9 operas from Sept. to March. The season used to be very short with more operas (Sept. to Dec. or late Nov.). It really has made an effort to extend the season so that Chicago is not opera-less for most of the year. That is, the company is very forward thinking and always trying to improve. It is not stuck in a formula or pattern afforded by big state subsidies. In fact, Lyric Opera is ALWAYS in the black--with very small government subsidies. The faithful aficionados and tourists keep it going strong. It also offers a decent variety of works, first-class soloists, first-class conductors, and a variety of directorial perspectives. There are no third or fourth-rate singers appearing at Lyric. Many important singers also are willing to take on assignments that stretch their abilities and succeed sensationally. And, last but not least, the house itself is beautifully preserved with excellent sightlines and pretty good acoustics. The last time I visited the Met, I noticed how shabby it was getting--peeling paint, concrete floors, and kind of outdated '60's architecture (the gallery of portraits is pretty crumbily displayed on the lower level). Bravo, Lyric Opera of Chicago! And, the orchestra and chorus are first-rate!

[Puck]

What about the US Congress? They offer acting of the highest caliber, and some of the voices are quite stunning!

[tripleneck]

Props to HOU Wortham Center. I may be a noob comparatively, but I think tha HGO is at least Coach class. F'rinstance, their Ballo this season w/ Vargas & Podles blew away last weekend's Met Ballo.

[number five alive]

Anywhere that Maestro Muti is, is TOP RATE! Everywhere else is just a sewing needle, a paper cone, a piece of scotch tape, and an old 45. :-p

[rompicolleone]

I played at both La Fenice (7 years) and then LA Opera (6-7 years.) While LA has far more notes in tune, playing there (as compared to LaF) was like a zipless f*** -- I could not understand how opera being performed was so soul-less. (Just my comments from the peanut gallery of the viola section ...) xoxo's to all of you, such an interesting discussion!

[deadtenors]

pesaro kills it - top tier for the summer. deutsche is nicht so gut. if you're sitting up at the back of the Met you're betta off watching the show broadcast live onto your phone, but they gots the stars and that top tier orchestra. scala fell off when they dissed OC. Australia is better at soccer than opera. thailand has a ring cycle - sydney does not. ROH has the best snob factor - can sit and dine at interval and look out the window at the beggars. Paris does a whole bunch of stuff in french. Beijing best value - tickets very cheap and chinese operas go for days. rome and spain have good looking patrons - worth the price of a ticket.

[MAD]

The frankfurt opera is not mentioned. It was chosen many times by Opernwelt as the best european opera house. The productions are ALWAYS top nodge. Diana Damrau was part of its ensemble for many years, elinca garanca as well, and so is Zelko Lucic right now, the new star baritone (he´s doing macbeth at the met tomorrow actually). But besides the singers, the high level of the stagings is really worth seeing. Their ´07 bily budd was THE event here in europe. Breathtaking.
And speaking of the met.... ok, always big names, and yes, it IS a big house, but, seriously, the productions are horrid, completely tasteless, old fashioned and decadent. I guess they are going for the "bigger crowd".... which means, for instance, that rome and jliette go to disneyworld. YUKKK!!!!

[charles laughton]

Well, since everyone is shilling for their pet provincial house, I have to point out that if you mention Frankfurt, you mighrt as well mention Cologne, Stuttgart, Hamburg
and Dusseldorf, all of whom are capable of producing opera on a high 2cd tier level, as is Frankfurt. But having talented singers pass through their ensembles does not make them top tier- everyone of these houses has fielded future international stars.

[MAD]

Exactly my point charles, dear. German opera houses in general deserve more space in top lists, than italians with their rusty dusty productions in their belief that they are the only ones carrying oper tradition around like a museum piece, or american houses, with their private subvention of old rich republican bored couples who won´t allow nothing but "wholesome, nice, innocent" stagings.
And BTW, being Frankfurt the financial capital of europe, i wouldn´t go as far as talking about "pet provincial".