“[Sharon] challenges the status quo and proposes radical new ways to present operas new and old. Expect insight, originality and some contentious views that will stimulate debate.” ―Richard Fairman, Financial Times , "Best Books of 2024" From “the most imaginative director in the US” ( New York Times ) comes this generational work with a vision for transforming opera into a powerhouse cultural phenomenon. "This book builds a compelling roadmap for the future of opera, and how it can truly be accessible for everyone." ―Gustavo Dudamel Known as opera’s “disrupter-in-residence,” director Yuval Sharon has never adhered to the art form’s conventions. In his many productions in both the United States and Europe, he constantly challenges the perception of opera as aloof by urging, among other things: performing operas in “non-places,” such as parking lots; encouraging the use of amplification; and shuffling the traditional structure of classic works, like performing Puccini’s La bohème in reverse order, ending not with the tubercular heroine Mimi’s death but with her first falling in love. With A New Philosophy of Opera , Sharon has crafted a radical and refreshing book that can act as an introduction to the art form for the culturally curious, or as a manifesto for his fellow artists. In an engaging style that ranges from the provocative to the personal, Sharon offers a 360-degree view of the art form, from the audience experience to the artist’s process; from its socially conscious potential to its economic reality; and from its practical to its emotional and spiritual dimensions. Surveying the role of opera in the United States and drawing on his experiences from Berlin to Los Angeles, Sharon lays out his vision for an “anti-elite opera” that celebrates the imagination and challenges the status quo. With an illustrated and unconventional history of the art form (not following a straight line but tracing a fantastical “time-curve”) weaving throughout the book, Sharon resists the notion of the opera as “dying” and instead portrays it as a glorious chaos constantly being reborn and reshaped. With its advocacy of opera as an “enchanted space” and its revolutionary message, A New Philosophy of Opera is itself a work of art―a living book with profound philosophical implications―that will stand the test of time. 21 photographs, 12 line drawings; 8 page color insert "“[Sharon] challenges the status quo and proposes radical new ways to present operas new and old. Expect insight, originality and some contentious views that will stimulate debate.”" ― Richard Fairman, Financial Times , "Best Books of 2024: Classical and Pop Music "Persuasively argued and filled with lively and approachable details, A New Philosophy of Opera brims with Mr. Sharon’s passion for the form . . . His own productions, discussed in the book, offer fascinating examples of how Mr. Sharon rethinks and recombines opera’s basic elements of text, music and theater in ways that upend expectations." ― Heidi Waleson, Wall Street Journal "Yuval Sharon’s A New Philosophy of Opera is a refreshing, reassuring book about an old art form’s bright future . . . Opera has always been less like fiction and more like poetry, says the author: ‘looser, more associative, and more interested in potential meanings that arise from familiar words being used in unfamiliar ways.’ Whether rethinking an old work or creating a new one, Sharon means to keep it that way." ― David Kirby, Washington Post "Thought-provoking . . . an indispensable handbook for making opera matter in the 21st century." ― Mark Swed, Los Angeles Times "There is no doubt that Sharon has a brilliant and inquiring mind, and this book gives ample evidence that he knows how to construct his case convincingly and with care . . . Yuval Sharon has written a manifesto that is by turns polemical, prophetic, poetic, prescriptive, and practical. All of it bespeaks a brain that is constantly seeking to tease out a particular thread of artistic truth." ― Peter Kazaras, Los Angeles Review of Books "Part cultural history, part aesthetic manifesto, it’s a shrewdly provocative book that envisions a future for the art form profoundly rooted in a radical past. And it’s inextricable from Sharon’s own experience with opera, both as an audience member and as a creator." ― Nate Chinen, WRTI, "2024 Gift Guide" "[I]n this treatise for the artform…. Sharon is most compelling when writing from personal experience, particularly when highlighting the differences between opera in Germany and the US." ― Claire Jackson, BBC Music "...a manifesto for the future of the art form." ― Graham Meyer, WBEZ Chicago "Detroit Opera artistic director Yuval Sharon has a celebrated history of reinventing opera. He shares his views on opera as a living, breathing, evolving art form in A New Philosophy of Opera , a new book published this fall." ― Detroit Free Press "There's no doubting t