Going against the grain with chamber opera
An evening of opera with a full symphony orchestra in the pit can easily cost several hundreds thousands of euros. Opera houses often play it safe and present the well-established masterpieces. When a composer is commissioned to write a new opera, it is usually a music theatre piece of modest size. Chamber opera is flourishing in new music. René van Peer spoke to a number of composers about their chamber operas. Some of them dream of a large, full-length production, while others prefer smaller scale opera.