The Operatic State

The Operatic State examines the cultural, financial, and political investments that have gone into the maintenance of opera and opera houses in Europe, the USA and Australia. It analyses opera's nearly immutable form throughout wars, revolutions, and vast social changes throughout the world. Bereson argues that by legitimising the power of the state through universally recognised ceremonial ritual, opera enjoys a privileged status across three continents, often to the detriment of popular and indigenous art forms.

Ruth Bereson began her career as an arts manager and has since incorporated that practice in research and studies on arts and cultural policy in Australia, Singapore, Britain, France and the USA. She is the editor of Artistic Integrity and Social Responsibility: You Can't Please Everyone! (Ethos Books, 2001). She is currently Associate Director of the Program in Arts Administration and Assistant Professor of Practice at Teachers College, Columbia University.

Chapter 1 Introducing the Power Brokers; Chapter 2 Princely Pleasures; Chapter 3 Of Kings and Barricades; Chapter 4 The Disunited Kingdom; Chapter 5 Along the Danube and the Rhine; Chapter 6 The Jewel in the Crown-Stronger and More Permanent than Ideologies; Chapter 7 Magnificence of the Met the Commercial Fable; Chapter 8 The Chip in the Harbour; Chapter 9 Other Operas - Other Worlds; Chapter 10 Back to the Future?;