“A Renaissance of American opera”

“A Renaissance of American opera.” That’s what the Piedmont Opera’s General Director and Conductor Joseph Mechavich told me is going on right now, and he’s seeking to bring that movement to the Piedmont Triad. Most of us associate opera with Europe and old people: performers standing still and singing in foreign languages to audiences of the elderly and rich. When I sat down with Mechavich to hear about his company’s performances opening this week, however, he gave me a vision of opera that expands far beyond the stereotype. After a career spanning multiple continents and many, many performances, Mechavich, a trained pianist and conductor, has come to the Triad with a vision for changing audiences’ relationship to opera. He finds his inspiration in this Renaissance. “Operas are stories so big that they need to be sung,” Mechavich said, adding that in many ways the shows are similar to Broadway musicals.

This excerpt comes from the named source. Read the original for the full reporting.