Puccini and Pints

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In the never ending quest to find new and younger audiences to classical music, The Guardian in the UK reports on the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment concert series, Night Shift. Seems after their standard concert, the orchestra played an hour-long show to a more casual audience. The show featured "some dimmed lighting and on-stage chat to create a definitively different atmosphere from a normal concert, while still focusing on the music." It didn't hurt that audience members were allowed to bring drinks into the theatre. So there you have it, can it really be that simple? Alcohol makes classical music fun? Or, seriously, was it the whole rethinking of the concert experience? And if so, how can opera learn from this lesson?

-- Edward

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