Urban Arias makes opera work for a new generation.
Powdered wigs and corsets aren’t overly prevalent in the 21st century, which is why Arlington-based opera company Urban Arias’ Executive Director Robert Wood has ditched the classics of Wagner and Mozart for something more aligned with this generation’s interests.
Heading into its sixth year, Urban Arias seeks to break down the elitist perception of the opera by presenting short, contemporary works.
Wood, who studied conducting in Vienna, Austria, has conducted operas all over the country. He moved to the Metro-D.C. area looking for something new and fresh after two years with the Minnesota Opera.
“What should it be that wouldn’t be duplicative of something else that was out there and also had real relevance and had something to say about the art form and could maybe address the question everybody is always worried about?” asks Wood. “How are we going to get the next generation of people to go to the opera if they think it’s an elitist art form and … they’re intimidated by it?”
There were three things Wood found that often scared people away from opera—length, language and price. After tossing around a couple of ideas, Wood decided to perform operas that are no longer than 90 minutes and were written in the last 40 years. Urban Arias takes care of the price as well with general admission tickets coming in at $28 and student tickets for $26.
“Ninety minutes is like a feature-film length,” says Wood. “People are willing to spend that much time on an uninterrupted entertainment. If there are couples where one person is really into [opera] and the other person is reluctant, the person can say ‘It’s only 90 minutes, and it’s in English; you’re going to understand it, and it’s not that long, so just try it.’”
Wood also credits the success of Urban Arias to the intimacy of their performances, most of which have taken place in the black box-style theater of the Artisphere in Arlington.
“You can not only see everything on their faces,” says wood, “but you can feel their voices vibrate in your own body; it’s that intimate. That is not a replicable in a place like the Kennedy Center.”
However, Urban Arias will be searching for a new home in the near future. Artisphere is scheduled to close later this year, making Urban Arias’ upcoming show “Blue Viola” the last performance at the venue. Though Artisphere has been its main location during its five-year run, Urban Arias has and will continue to perform at many different theaters in the area.
The interest from the local community has grown in Urban Arias’ first five years, and they have received rave reviews from the opera community, including mentions in The New York Times and The New Yorker. Wood hopes both the trend of short, contemporary operas and the growth in popularity continue across the country, and he has a clear goal of what he wants Urban Arias to be, “the first and the best producer of this kind of repertoire.” —Michael Balderston
(March 2015)
