Events

The main goal of this conference is to foster discussion on the century-old relationship between opera and cinema as an encounter that is anything but settled.

However obvious the contrast between the respectively elitist and popular aspects of both genres might seem at first, a political questioning of their intersection cannot but dismiss the simplistic dichotomy between “ennobling film” and “popularizing opera”. Furthermore, even though opera and film are both hybrid media and are often viewed in a historical continuum, it is critical to counter a view of their relationship as a “natural” one.

The debate is thus intended to lead to new ways of thinking the encounter of opera and cinema that might also challenge our understanding of both art forms with respect to their roles, uses, modes of experience, or of critical appropriation.