American opera is suffering from the same problem faced by a lot of mainstream culture from the 20th century - it's too used to operating at scale and too expen

American opera is suffering from the same problem faced by a lot of mainstream culture from the 20th century - it's too used to operating at scale and too expensive to cut back. This isn't to say that art is dead, and I always hate the common complaint about audiences abandoning classical because schools cut back on music education. Music, like television, has become far more diverse in style and complexity. At the same time, audiences have become far more diverse in taste. The end result is that, in New York at least, the music world is thriving! Venues host musicians from a huge breadth of backgrounds and styles, and audiences can now choose from a huge variety of musical styles. On the other hand, the scale of these productions has gotten smaller. Television shows that used to have audiences in the 10s of millions now get by with fewer than 1 million viewers. Savvy producers now know how to create TV shows on smaller budgets, and savvy content networks know how to build a breadth of shows to satisfy a wide range of audiences. The same must be true with music productions. Ultimately, the Met is declining because there's more choice to be found elsewhere, and they're too big to slim down to the point where they can remain competitive. Related, and worth reading: On 10 Years of the New New-Music Scene, and 30 Years of My Own - http://www.vulture.com/2018/06/ten-years-of-the-new-new-music-scene.html http://www.vulture.com/2018/06/ten-years-of-the-new-new-musi...