The amazing thing AND the difficult thing about opera (and actually any other art form) are as follows:
As a performer, it is NOT about US.
It is NOT "I want to feel. I want to be. I want to experience. I want to learn."
Those are all important things. Feeling, experiencing, being, learning are all great things that one can take away from a production and/or a performance.
However, when all of that--when WE get in the way of the art and the communication, we have DEFEATED OUR PURPOSE.
It IS NOT about us.
It IS about the music.
It IS about the text.
It IS about the audience.
It IS about conveying the truth of human nature in all its silliness, beauty, repulsiveness and insanity.
IT'S ABOUT BEING HONEST.
If a performer impedes other performers from doing their ABSOLUTE best-- whether it be because of EGO, LACK OF PREPAREDNESS, or INSENSITIVITY or all of the above-- that person is SELFISH.
Our duty as artists is to provide our fellow artists with a safe, encouraging, supportive place of work so we can use our craft to touch the audience.
That is all.
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