“Opera definitely isn’t for everyone. The music and aesthetics are distinctly different from most other art forms that we’re familiar with, but it takes just as much skill and talent as the musical theatre that we know and love and deserves some level of appreciation.”

Thankfully in 2019, awareness of blackface, brownface, and yellowface have been heightened to the level that it’s almost universally understood that donning them is wrong.

Yet some people are showing a more delayed response in understanding that.

Reports and pictures of an opera production with actors dressed in yellowface, are going viral on social media. The images are from the Knoxville Opera’s production of Madame Butterfly, which closed last weekend.

There are plenty of great operas out there that aren’t part of the “Big Ten.” Some of the ones included on this list are more well-known than others; some of which are very rarely performed. If you know them, great! If you don’t, here are some exciting stories to delve into. Enjoy!

A local community opera company, Greater Worcester Opera (GWO) is performing, “The Mikado” in June. When I first saw the notice for auditions, I was perplexed. Admittedly, I don’t know much about opera, but I do know a few things about The Mikado. It’s a Gilbert and Sullivan piece, written in the latter half of the 19th century, and is fraught with controversy with yellow-face” performances (in the not-to-distant-past) and for its stereotyped portrayal of Asian people and cultures. In 2019, it seemed an odd choice to perform. I reached out to the Executive Director, Elaine Crane, to ask why. Why this opera and why now.