When resources are scarce at crisis times and when competition is intense with other creative supplies, USA symphony orchestras and opera houses memorize and perform their repertoires (or repertories), so that seasons are crucially bundled between tradition and innovation. Since the beginning of the latest financial and real crisis (2007), USA classical music has seen different levels of funding from the federal government and businesses have encouraged more nonconventional programming (Pompe, Tamburri, 2016; Turbide, Laurin, 2009; Ravanas, 2008; Rushton, 2008; Turrini, 2006; Smith, 2007). On one side, fundraisers have stressed bundles (contemporary music with tradition) to sponsors; on the other side, marketing officers have emphasized the repertoire memory to audiences who constantly love Traviata, Boheme and Don Giovanni with echo of famous regisseurs, scenographers, etc. This is quite the same worldwide (Cancellieri, Turini, 2016). Fundraising and marketing affect economic performances of classical music, also thanks to social media and networks. Consumers have access to information about ticketing, rehearsals, present and past performances, etc. Art organizations strive to manage communication via social media to create brand values. Social media support both fundraising and marketing, as they mediate to sponsors and audiences: values, advocacy, videos and photos of the repertoire and nonconventional programming, which continually increase trustworthy relationships and nurture memories.This paper investigates 200 USA symphony orchestras and opera houses according to repertoires, revenues, expenses and gains in 2008 and 2015. With cluster analysis, three profiles emerge with different strategies, performances and emphasis on memory or innovation.

A lyric essay by two writers and academics who are victim survivors of child sexual abuse (CSA) perpetrated by their biological fathers. Taking a survivor-centred approach, and referring to their own lived experience, Clare Best and Patricia Debney interrogate representations of, and allusions to, CSA in the 2025 opera Festen* in particular, and in the arts more generally, focusing on themes such as denial, use of language and the aftermath of trauma.*The opera Festen (composer Mark-Anthony Turnage, librettist Lee Hall) was first staged at The Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, London, in February 2025. Turnage and Hall based their opera on the 1998 Dogme 95 film with the same title, directed by Thomas Vinterberg. In Festen, revelations of CSA are made by Christian and Helena at their father Helge Klingefeldt's sixtieth birthday party. The drama revolves around the reactions and interactions of party guests, hotel staff and various members of the family including the perpetrator Helge and his wife Else (mother to his children).

Emerging technologies offer cultural institutions opportunities to expand their audiences and make their content more accessible. Augmented Virtuality (AV), which integrates real-world content into virtual environments, shows particular potential. It enables the transmission of live or pre-recorded stage performances, such as concerts and theater productions, from the stage to virtual audiences via increasingly affordable head-mounted displays (HMDs). However, as AV remains under-researched, little is known about which recording features enable an immersive user experience while maintaining cost-efficiency—an essential requirement for resource-constrained cultural institutions. In this context, we investigate the influence of features of audio and video recordings on key dimensions of user experience in the use case of a real opera performance integrated into a virtual opera house. We conducted a 2 × 2 within-subjects study with 30 participants to measure the effects of 2D versus 3D videos and stereophonic versus spatial audio rendering on several key dimensions of user experience. The results show that spatial audio has a positive impact on Place Illusion, whereas video dimensionality had no significant effect. Recommendations for the design of AV applications are derived from study results, aiming at balancing immersive user experience and cost-efficiency for virtual cultural participation.

Vienna’s first commercial opera house (1728–1748) between impresario management and courtly directionIn the first half of the 18th century, the Kärntnertortheater in Vienna was not only a venue for spoken theatre performances, but also a centre for opera. Between 1728 and 1748, around 150 musical dramas, mostly Italian, were performed. In a volume published in 2023 (Das Wiener Kärntnertortheater 1728-1748. Vom städtischen Schauspielhaus zum höfischen Opernbetrieb, hg. von A. Sommer-Mathis und R. Strohm, Wien, Hollitzer), the repertoire of this first commercial opera house in Vienna was reconstructed using surviving libretti and scores. The present contribution is based on this book and focuses on the organisation of the Kärntnertortheater at this time, which was managed alternately by private impresarios and court officials. The two impresarios who took over the management of the theatre in 1728, the singer Francesco Borosini and the dancer Joseph Carl Selliers, were supported by a number of court dignitaries, but had to contend with an exclusive opera privilege, which the singer Francesco Ballerini held until 1734, but which he never made use of. Even after this privilege expired, Borosini and Selliers struggled with various problems, especially financial ones, until Maria Theresa decided in 1741 to entrust Selliers with the organisation of court operas as well, thus eliminating the separation between the administration of the court theatre and the municipal theatre.

The opera The Wilderness was adapted by Wan Fang, daughter of Cao Yu, from her father's play of the same name, with music composed by Jin Xiang. This work has been performed in several countries abroad, achieving great success each time, and has received high praise both domestically and internationally. This opera is also hailed as “the first Chinese opera to knock on the doors of Western opera houses.” Academic research on The Wilderness has reached considerable depth and breadth. Building upon prior studies and compiling relevant scholarly materials, this paper synthesizes current research into four main areas: critical reviews, musical composition analysis, creative philosophy and aesthetic analysis, and character development.

The composing and producing experience of Alla Sirenko as a prominent representative of the Ukrainian diaspora in Britain is analysed in the article. Important events of the artist’s life and creative path those have influenced the formation and self-realization of her artistic personality are described. These are her musical education in three specialties across various artistic centers – Kyiv, Lviv, Tallinn; international internships in Gothenburg, Lübeck, and Cambridge; her relocation to the United Kingdom; the implementation of her own musical project, the Cirencester Festival; the staging of the opera The Golden Penguin at the Royal Opera House in Britain; her activities as the Artistic director of the concert hall at the Ukrainian Greek-Catholic Cathedral in London; founding the Ukrainian Cultural Association in the Great Britain (UCA–UK) with its headquarters in London, where she serves as president; and the launch of the concert series Spirit of Ukraine. The problem of designing the national identity in A. Sirenko’s works is considered exemplified by two wartime compositions – Ukrainian Fantasy for violin, viola, and symphony orchestra, and Elegy for string sextet (or string orchestra). The theme of national unity, Ukraine’s territorial integrity amid its regional diversity is comprehended in the first work. The technique of stylizing the intonations of the kozachok, kolomyika, and Crimean Tatar melodies are chosen as the marker for this work. They interact fluidly and organically within the musical material development. The artistic direction of Elegy, dedicated to the heroic Ukrainian people during Russia’s war against Ukraine, is connected with the composer’s contemplations on the current stage of Ukrainians’ existence. The work is reflecting the process of changes from the tragedy of the situation through the poignant memories of peaceful life to solidarity and an unwavering resolve to persevere in the fight for their homeland’s liberation. In such a way an elegy in A. Sirenko’s interpretation evolves into a philosophical variant of the genre, enriched by choral elements as a cross-genre feature, which is typical for elegies. A detailed analysis of the works of Ukrainian composer A. Sirenko hasn’t been submitted yet, as well as particularly in the context of constructing national identity in her music. The novelty of the submitted article is determined by this fact. Several methods are used in the research, belonging to the trend of historical musicology (which focuses on preserving musical cultural heritage, uncovering previously unknown artistic phenomena, and integrating them into scholarly and performance practices): theoretical analysis and synthesis to conceptualize national identity within the realm of musical art; biographical analysis to trace chronologically the stages of Sirenko’s development as a composer and producer; comparative and holistic musical analysis to examine her works. It is emphasized in the conclusions on Alla Sirenko’s distinctive role, marked by her multifaceted creative expression and a profound commitment to affirming Ukrainian national identity while living abroad.

The financial stability of opera houses in the United States has long been a concern, with institutions facing increasing challenges related to revenue volatility, rising costs, and thin operating margins. Using Opera America data from 2005 to 2023, I find that real operating income has stagnated or declined, with box office receipts and private donations showing significant long-term reductions. While public support increased temporarily during the COVID-19 pandemic, it only partially offset the loss in earned and donated revenue. Administrative expenses have risen sharply, consuming a growing share of total costs. These financial pressures are compounded by demographic shifts, including declining migration to areas with strong arts amenities, reducing local addressable markets for opera houses. The results highlight the need for opera companies to diversify revenue sources and adopt more data-driven strategies for measuring and communicating their impact. Additionally, fostering greater collaboration among arts institutions offers a potential solution to enhance operational efficiency and broaden audience engagement. This article provides both empirical insights into the financial challenges facing opera houses and conceptual recommendations for improving financial sustainability, including expanding digital offerings, diversifying funding streams, and adopting entrepreneurial governance models.

Abstract This research investigates the regeneration of urban spaces through the integration of music and cultural actions, focusing on open-air public environments. It emerges from the recognition that traditional music venues —such as concert halls or opera houses— are increasingly disconnected from contemporary listening practices and urban life. These enclosed and often exclusive architectures are giving way to more open, inclusive, and socially active public spaces. The study explores how music, due to its universal and immediate nature, can serve as a catalyst for urban revitalization and social cohesion. It emphasizes that spatial design alone is not enough: cultural programming and organizational management are essential for reactivating these spaces. As a response, the research introduces the concept of parasitic architecture: light, adaptable interventions that attach to existing urban structures and activate them through music and cultural programming. These interventions enable a flexible and sustainable way of transforming underused urban areas into active cultural nodes. Ultimately, the project proposes music not only as an artistic expression but as an architectural and urban strategy capable of redefining public space and strengthening the relationship between citizens and their environment.

Abstract Music has featured prominently in the occult from as far back as histories of the subject may be traced. Yet however great the occult’s importance in French esoterism from Mersenne to Messiaen, accounts of its more recent manifestations in the nineteenth-century séance have inexplicably ignored its music. Newly recovered documents allow music’s key role in the séance in the second half of the nineteenth century and beyond to be placed at the center of its history. The séance—the practice of table turning—arrived in Paris in early 1853. Within weeks, Parisian salons were swamped with spirits relaying words, images, and music from beyond the grave. Music’s engagement with spiritism took many forms: the documentation of spirits at performances in the opera house, the transmission of composers’ posthumous views on terrestrial and celestial music, and the dictation of unknown works by Mozart. One salon, made up by the Fourierist members of the editorial board of the recently suppressed journal La démocratie pacifique, was remarkable for its success in recalling celestial music from the spirit world; the music broadcast to the salon was recorded by the critic and composer Allyre Bureau, and subsequently published. The music thus transcribed was reported to various musical authorities—including the composer Félicien David and the pianist Émile Prudent—as well as to such well-connected salonnières as Delphine de Girardin. The occult musics and the discourses that surrounded them were transmitted to posterity in such different media as the fantastic novel and the oil painting.

An overseas exhibition of the National Museum titled Czech Prima Donnas at the Met Opera tracing the footsteps of Czech women singing at one of the world's most prestigious opera houses, New York's Metropolitan Opera, was presented in the gallery of the Czech Centre in New York from 12 May to 23 June 2024.This unusual exhibition project brought together the National Museum with such important institutions as the Czech Center in New

Abstract Point cloud‐based construction quality assessment and quality control (QA/QC) are playing an increasingly important role in large‐scale complex building projects. However, this approach faces several challenges, such as the laborious and time‐intensive process of manual point cloud segmentation, the high cost of point cloud labeling, and the lack of sufficient training data for deep learning‐based automatic segmentation methods. To address these issues, this paper proposed a method for detecting construction deviations in large‐scale complex building structures by utilizing synthetic point clouds for segmentation. The method automatically generated labeled synthetic point clouds with Gaussian noise using BIM and a virtual engine, significantly augmenting the limited amount of real point cloud data to train the semantic segmentation model, enabling the achievement of 94.2% overall accuracy (OA) and 81.1% mean intersection over union (M_IoU). Furthermore, a point cloud instance segmentation method according to density‐based spatial clustering of applications with noise (DBSCAN) and voxel‐vs‐BIM was proposed to independently compare each instance object of different building components with its corresponding BIM model, assessing the construction accuracy of each component based on root mean square error metric and the level of accuracy specification. For components with an LOA3 accuracy level, further deviation analysis was conducted. Taking the structural construction deviation detection of beams, columns, and concrete thick shells in the core area of the Shanghai Grand Opera House as a case, the proposed method significantly improved the efficiency of QA/QC.

Abstract While almost all charities rely on a set of donor appreciation strategies, their effectiveness for the success of fundraising campaigns is underresearched. Through two preregistered field studies conducted in collaboration with a leading German opera house (N = 10,000), we explore the significance of expressing gratitude and examine two different approaches to doing so. Our first study investigates the impact of a ‘thank you in advance’ statement in fundraising letters, a common strategy among fundraisers. In the second study, we explore the effectiveness of handwritten thankyou postcards versus printed postcards, shedding light on the roles of personalization and handwriting in donor appeals. Our findings challenge conventional wisdom, revealing that neither ‘thank you in advance’ nor handwritten thank you notes significantly affect donor contributions.

During the Renaissance, performances were often hosted in open-air theatres. Ancient Roman-style theatres continued to influence architectural design, although they had not been in use for centuries. Historical sources indicate that actors performed in front of a colonnade, while the audience was seated on temporary wooden structures. At the same time, these spaces functioned as modern theatres, hosting newly written comedies specifically for semi-public performances. This study argues, from an acoustic perspective, that Renaissance theatre retained many characteristics of ancient theatre while introducing key innovations that shaped modern theatrical spaces. The Cornaro Lodge (1524) is probably the last surviving example of an early-Renaissance performance venue, based on the Roman Domus. However, due to its remarkable state of preservation, the Lodge, whose acoustics represent an important example of intangible cultural heritage, crystallizes an intermediate stage in the evolution of theatrical architecture. Acoustic measurements offer valuable insights into the development of key elements still used in performance spaces today, such as the proscenium and the scenic arch. Progressively, starting from the late 16th century, this model was functionally replaced by the Vitruvian-Palladian design, based on the Roman Basilica, which became dominant in the evolution of the opera house.

In Japan's historical regions, particularly those designated as World Heritage sites, maintaining the use of existing buildings while preserving the traditional landscape has become an urgent task. Recently, there has been a growing trend of repurposing wooden structures for new functions-for example, converting them into small music venues. One such case is the opera house Omoriza, a former post office that has been transformed into a unique music facility. What sets Omoriza apart is that its exterior, a valuable World Heritage building, has been carefully preserved. However, since it was not originally designed for musical performances, its acoustic performance remains a challenge. In particular, Omoriza's asymmetrical layout and the close proximity of some seats to the walls create variations in the strength and direction of early reflected sound at different seating positions. To better understand these acoustic characteristics, this study conducted two experiments: an acoustic measurement to analyze sound arrival directions and a perceptual experiment to examine the auditory impressions unique to small music venues. The results revealed significant directional variations in sound energy, especially in the low-frequency range of early reflections (0-25 ms), which had a noticeable impact on auditory perception.

ABSTRACT Lawrence Abu Hamdan’s 45th Parallel (2022) is a 15-minute film of a performance staged with painted theatrical backdrops at the Haskell Free Library and Opera House, a building constructed in 1904 on the United States and Canadian border, to symbolically mark the dividing line between the two countries. Abu Hamdan’s film narrates the real story of a fatal cross-border extra-judicial shooting at the US-Mexico border, re-told utilising the scenographic affordances of this setting to draw attention to the hypocrisy of border violence. In offering a detailed exposition of the work as encountered in its exhibition format, the article demonstrates how this is achieved through scenographic means and the activation of overt theatricality (e.g. painted backdrops, direct address, a musical underscore and multi-channel sound). By deploying the notion of theatre as an investigative form and mode of critique, the article considers how the scenographic approaches employed in 45th Parallel explicate the political potentiality of an aesthetics of absence and enable the disappeared protagonists of the stories being told to re-appear without either being dramatically represented or theatrically re-enacted.

Cluj-Napoca, the second most important city in Romania, is a multicultural center with sixteen museums and six public universities, including the Babeş-Bolyai University, the largest in Romania. The city has a well-developed music education system, offering programs from primary to doctoral levels. Graduates find employment opportunities in its two opera houses, philharmonic orchestra, and traditional music ensembles. The "Gheorghe Dima" National Academy of Music has two faculties, one theoretical and one for musical interpretation, also offering a range of optional modules, including the Traditional Music Module. This module lays emphasis on field research, musical transcription, folk singing, and traditional instruments, focusing on different folkloric regions each year. Students take part in courses, concerts, and the ICOANE Ensemble, a renowned 30-year-old group dedicated to restoring Romanian traditional music, performing both nationally and internationally.

Yuzo Mikami (1931–2020) was a Japanese architect who participated in the design project of the Sydney Opera House. Despite being a key member, he has not been sufficiently appreciated. This paper aims to clarify Mikami’s design activities using newly discovered primary sources: drawings, notes and letters. Mikami joined this project thrice, which we named the Utzon (1958–61), Arup (1962–64), and Hall period (1967). Then we analyzed four architectural elements: the concourse beams, shell roofs, warped surface, and glass walls. This research will demonstrate that Mikami’s archives are crucial sources when conducting historical and technological analyses of the Sydney Opera House.

The article raises the problem of self-realization of the artist in various spheres of artistic activity. The definition of the concept of “self-realization” is clarified. The scientific works of domestic and foreign scientists who study the problems of self-realization of artists in theater, cinema, television, problems of adaptation of artistic works, problems of functioning of musical theaters, problems of directing and screen adaptation of opera are analyzed. The goal is to determine the specifics of the artist's self-realization in various spheres of artistic activity and to identify the features of the director's and artist's means in the presentation of opera and dramatic performances in theatrical and screen arts. A historical excursion is made and the self-realization of artists in the sphere of culture in different eras is shown. The work of the outstanding artist and architect Franco Zeffirelli became an example of the comprehensive realization of the artist in theater, cinema and television. The influence of the outstanding master of stage and screen, representative of Italian neorealism L. Visconti on F. Zeffirelli's work is shown. It is found out that under the guidance of L. Visconti, the architect and artist F. Zeffirelli mastered the main cinematographic professions, especially the director's specialty. The importance of W. Shakespeare's work in F. Zeffirelli's creative life is outlined. The master's theatrical and cinematic works based on W. Shakespeare's works are analyzed and the specifics of their visual culture are substantiated. The features of the master's scenography and the specifics of his work with actors and opera singers, composers are revealed. The most prestigious opera houses and opera singers with whom F. Zeffirelli worked are shown. The specifics of the directorial means used by the master are revealed, the essence of the main elements of the artist's author's language is revealed. The specifics of F. Zeffirelli's creative style are determined. The main opera performances, performances in drama theaters, and screen works of F. Zeffirelli are analyzed, in which his powerful talent as an artist and director was revealed. The features of the artist's work on television in the film adaptation of opera performances are shown. The phenomenon of biographicalism in the artist's work is revealed through the analysis of his works on stage and screen. The phenomenon of beauty in the master's artistic work is investigated. In studying the phenomenon of the artist's self-realization in modern culture, a comprehensive methodological approach was applied, in particular, culturological and art history approaches, the method of analysis and synthesis, the method of systematization and generalization, the method of comparison, the comparative and biographical method were used. The results of the study expand the arsenal of knowledge regarding the specifics of the artist's self-realization in various spheres of cultural and artistic activity.

ABSTRACT Felwine Sarr’s Afrotopia (2019) envisions a better future liberated from the straitjacket of Western economic and epistemological domination, a future emerging at Afrotopos, artistic sites for the gestation of the Africa to come. As real places materializing utopian visions, they constitute heterotopias in Michel Foucault’s sense, counter-sites that challenge the hegemonic spatial order and hence open opportunities for its transformation. Here, the authors look at two rather unlikely candidates for the cultural production of Afrotopias: the Museum of the Bamum Kings, Cameroon, founded by Sultan Ibrahim Njoya, which transformed local creativity in response to colonialism; and the Opera Village Africa, Burkina Faso, planned by German artist Christoph Schlingensief as a place to “steal” African creativity in neoliberal times. Both sites promised to mobilize African arts to generate social change but, as both sites resulted from (neo)colonial power relations, they fall short of Felwine Sarr’s vision of an African cultural revolution uplifting humanity. As such, they question global entanglements in the production of African utopias. Can Western-derived institutions like museums and opera houses emplace Afrotopian aspirations, or does the differentiated artistic realm itself reproduce the coloniality of power/knowledge/being that places Africa at the underside of modernity? The authors address these questions while analyzing the museum and the opera as real places that materialize their utopian trajectories, not least in the extraordinary architecture of Issofou Mbouombouo and Diébédo Francis Kéré.

The acoustic field of an opera house is much more difficult to predict than those of concert halls because, in the fly tower, the absorption characteristics vary from time to time, according to the opera piece layout. For this reason, the paper aims to find a simplified fly tower model to be used as a fixed reference in a preliminary acoustic prediction for opera houses. Firstly, referring to a case study, the effects of the fly tower Depth and absorptive characteristics are investigated to identify the simplified model. As a traditional opera is set on an empty stage, and modern pieces are supported by a virtual projected environment, the influence of the variable stage elements on Reverberation Time RT, Clarity C80, and Strength G is considered, comparing the traditional Semiramide opera to a modern digital one, according to the Just Noticeable Difference JND. Results confirm the utility of the suggested fly tower model, which does not require any set definition.