Classical/ Climate
Resources for the US classical music industry to address the climate crisis
send updates to: classicalclimate@gmail.com
Information and links
please give credit or link to this page if using this research.
Basic background:
League of American Orchestra's page on climate change
Opera Europa's Green Policy
Aug 2023: How Opera is Aiming for Net Zero (BBC, UK)
Oct 2022: Beyond Carbon: Opening the US Conversation. Opera and climate change panel discussion hosted virtually by the Center for Contemporary Opera, on Opera America's website
May 2021: How Operas are Going Green (US)
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Repertoire. This is probably where opera can have the biggest immediate impact, by helping people to process their feelings about what is happening, enabling them to engage with the issue more deeply.
The Shell Trial, about the historic 2021 legal win against the Dutch oil company, premiered in March 2024; here are some reviews. David Pountney's Masque of Might, to the music of Purcell, premiered in 2023. NeoArctic at Opéra de Montréal and the Kennedy Center led the way; Sun and Sea was presented by BAM; COAL + ICE at Fort Mason and the Kennedy Center is related; and several smaller pieces like Second Nature commissioned by Chicago Lyric and The Flight of the Hummingbird co-commissioned by Vancouver Opera and Pacific Opera Victoria have been written for kids. For composers, librettists, and commissioners interested in getting started, Gabriela Lena Frank’s Creative Academy of Music programs and Greta’s climate storytelling project may inspire. American Opera Project's 2024 Climate Opera Project develops new repertoire.
Operations. How do you make opera sustainable? The Sydney Opera House leads the way here, having gone carbon neutral in 2018, and Seattle Opera is leading the pack in the US with LEED certification. Santa Fe Opera installed 431 solar panels in 2023. There are several other examples in Europe, particularly in Sweden and the UK; notably Glyndebourne with its 2012 wind turbine, and Göteborg Opera. Royal Swedish Opera, UK’s Royal Opera House, the English National Opera and the Opéra National de Paris made public commitments as of 2021, and several opera houses have bees on the rooftop, including Wolf Trap and OperaDelaware, in addition to Paris and Vienna Operas. La Scala has announced its Zero Energy Building. INSPIRE is a new European organization dedicated to bringing all this knowledge together.
Net Zero productions. This is the next frontier and probably easiest to consider as a second or third step on the path, though Victory Hall Opera and Pacific Opera Victoria have taken opera outdoors, powering down and featuring Nature as a protagonist. Göteborg Opera in Sweden absolutely sets the pace with their ecologically sustainable Ring cycle and Opera North leads the way with a green season. Co-productions are the original green invention; such as OSCAR, a new European initiative.
What is the first step your company can take towards environmental sustainability?
Put climate on the next Board meeting agenda. Agree on something the company can commit to, and put that commitment on the website.
Much like DEI issues, it will be a process. In fact, climate justice is closely related to DEI on a global scale.
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Upcoming climate-related programming:
Renée Fleming's Anthropocene series, including May 10, 2025 with Tulsa Opera
October 15 + 16, 2024: Vildwerk Environmental Conservation Through Dance
Further repertoire: click through to this page
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To begin educating oneself in the meantime:
One can sign up on the Julie’s Bicycle mailing list for free
Join Opera North and the London Symphony in signing the declaration at Music Declares Emergency.
An environmental resource to share with conservative US donors: https://republicen.org/
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Examples of sustainability pages on opera websites, a standard practice now in Europe:
Dutch National Opera and Ballet
Savonlinna Opera Festival, Finland
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Opera and Fossil Funding
Royal Opera House cuts ties with BP Jan 2023
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Related:
Audience survey regarding attitudes toward climate change (UK, 2022)
Green Arts Oxfordshire Network (UK)
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Music and processing overwhelming emotions like climate anxiety and climate grief:
May 2024: Music as a Vehicle for Climate Communication: The ClimateMusic Project
Jan 2024: Music Psychology and Climate Action
Feb 2022: How Can Music Help Us to Address the Climate Crisis? Sage Journals
Dec 2022: How one Quintet hopes Music will help people process climate anxiety, grief (NPR)
Oct 2022: The Soundtrack to the Climate Crisis is Apocalypse Pop (Vox)
May 2022: Coping with Climate through Music podcast
Dec 2021: Scientists and Musicians Tackle Climate Change Together (MIT)
Dec 2019: Music for Our Emergency (NPR)
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not opera, but an inspiring business model: Gucci
EarthPercent: The music industry's climate foundation
NATURE as an artist on Spotify
EarthSonic: In Place of War. The story of climate change, told through music, science and Indigenous People
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And lastly:
A compost company founded by conductor Miguel Harth-Bedoya who is dedicated to a zero waste lifestyle!
Preliminary research funded by the Ann and Gordon Getty Foundation
through an Opera America Innovation Grant awarded to the Center for Contemporary Opera 2020-2022.
Please give credit or a link to this page if using this research.​
Page created May 2024
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