Richard Bradshaw, one of Canada's "most outspoken and fearless advocates for culture and the arts," and a man who did much to introduce opera to new audiences, has died.
As the general director of the Canadian Opera Company, Bradshaw fought the traditional stereotypes of the medium: new works were performed alongside the standard repertoire, innovative artistic direction was brought to the stage, and the COC watched as as audience numbers swelled. Last season, an average of 99% of the seats were filled for every performance.
Woburn Music and Opera for a New Age
Bradshaw felt it crucial that new audiences, especially young people, would be able to experience an opera, which could be described as an immersive, interdisciplinary event. "You are so overwhelmingly involved in the experience", he once said, "you can't tell where one sense ends and another begins."
Under the New Age scheme, special tickets are available for $20 in prime sections of the house and are reserved for people under 30 and for student groups.
Two years ago, Woburn Music organized an outing to see Il Trovatore, and there could have been no better affirmation that youth can enjoy opera than the students' unexpected, enthusiastic reaction.
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Every branch of the performing arts must often address an enduring question: can traditional forms remain relevant?
Friends of opera, both young and old, can be thankful for Richard Bradshaw's contribution - not simply as a conservator of the archaic - but as a visionary who defied the harsh dismissal of the art form about which he was most passionate, and who was successful in inviting others to believe in its power.
