Book Talk: Caitlin Vincent — Opera Wars - with Chelsea Dennis

Watch author Caitlin Vincent's book talk and reading at Politics and Prose bookstore in Washington, D.C.

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Blunt, irreverent, and at times wittily subversive, Opera Wars spotlights opera’s colorful and sometimes warring personalities, increasingly fierce controversies over content, and the battles being waged for its economic future.

Drawing on interviews with dozens of opera insiders—as well as her own experience as an award-winning librettist, trained vocalist, opera company director, and arts commentator—Caitlin Vincent deftly unravels clichés and presumptions, exposing such debates as how much fidelity is owed to long-dead opera composers whose plots often stir racial and gender sensitivities, whether there’s any cure for typecasting that leaves talented performers out of work and other performers chained to the same roles, and what explains the bizarre kowtowing of opera companies to the demands of traditionalist patrons.

Vincent never shrinks from depicting the industry’s top-to-bottom messiness and its stubborn resistance to change. Yet, like a lover who can’t quite break away, she always comes back to her veneration for the artform and in these pages stirringly evokes those moments on stage that can be counted on to make ardent fans of the most skeptical.

Caitlin Vincent is an award-winning librettist, trained vocalist, opera company director, and arts commentator. Her librettos have won all three of America’s top opera prizes and her vocal work is featured on the Grammy Award–nominated album 40@40. Vincent was the artistic director of The Figaro Project from 2009 to 2014. She writes frequently on the arts for such outlets as The Conversation and Limelight, and her perspective on opera has been featured in The New York Times. She holds a PhD from Deakin University (Australia), an MM from Peabody Conservatory at Johns Hopkins, and a BA from Harvard. She was born in the US but currently makes her home in Melbourne, Australia.

Vincent is in conversation with Chelsea Dennis, the Director of Production at Washington National Opera, where she leads the Technical, Costume, Stage Management, and Rehearsal departments. Before joining WNO in 2023, she served as Director of Production at The Santa Fe Opera, the company where she began her career as a Stage Management Intern in 2004. Over the past two decades, Chelsea has been a leader within the Stage Management departments of prominent opera companies across the country, including Los Angeles Opera, Boston Lyric Opera, Lyric Opera of Chicago, and San Francisco Opera. Her production work includes the Grammy Award–winning The (R)evolution of Steve Jobs as well as Broadway’s Tony Award–winning Fences. She holds a degree in Technical Theatre from San Francisco State University and is originally from Coronado, California.

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Politics and Prose is a beloved and award-winning staple for book lovers around the nation's capital and the world. In addition to our incredible selection of titles, Politics and Prose offers public book talks with today's leading authors and journalists.

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