CFP: Opera and Celebrity, Oxford Brookes Univ., 8 Sep 2015

OBERTO CONFERENCE 2015: Opera and Celebrity
Oxford Brookes University, September 8 2015
CFP Deadline: 1 June 2015

Opera has long been associated with celebrity culture. From the earliest days of public opera, accounts of singers’ love affairs, feuds or personal antics were eagerly lapped up by audiences that looked to the opera for entertainment both on and off the stage. The advent of mass media culture offered singers new and powerful promotional tools and singers such as Melba and Caruso were treated like royalty. During the 20th century, audiences and critics became less tolerant of earlier models of ‘star behaviour’ and in the present day operatic stars might appear to have been eclipsed by very different types of celebrity. However, studies such as Benzecry’s The Opera Fanatic have demonstrated that contemporary opera enthusiasts are as obsessive about individual singers as they ever were.

This conference, organised by the OBERTO opera research unit at Oxford Brookes University, will examine the ways in which operatic celebrities have promoted themselves and been received by audiences, as well as exploring the impact stars have had upon operatic works and productions. The conference will engage with all historical periods and a wide array of geographical areas.

Topics might include:
§  The star as god vs. the star as commodity
§  Celebrity lifestyles and morality
§  The impact of the ‘star’ on operatic works and productions
§  Life writing
§  Opera singers in films
§  Celebrity and image / portraiture
§  The travelling / trans-Atlantic celebrity
§  Operatic celebrity during the interwar period
§  Operatic fandom

We invite proposals from academics, performers and opera industry professionals for 20-minute presentations, panel discussions and alternative format sessions.

Please send abstracts of 250 words to Dr Alexandra Wilson: alexandra.wilson -at-brookes.ac.uk, by June 1 2015. Conference webpage: http://obertobrookes.com/conference-2015/