There’s a reason opera has lasted over 400 years. It speaks to something universal in us – a need to feel, to connect, to reckon with beauty and pain in a single breath. And far from being the relic some imagine it to be, opera today is not only surviving – it’s quietly staging one of the most remarkable cultural comebacks of our time.
Younger audiences across the globe are rediscovering opera – not because it’s trendy, but because it’s timeless. It has something the world is desperately short on: emotional honesty.
Opera was always for the people
Though we often associate opera with chandeliers, gowns and imported European elitism, its roots are deeply populist. The earliest operas, especially those of Verdi and Puccini, were the Netflix and Tele Novellas of their time – wildly emotional, thrilling, unapologetically dramatic. They were made for working people, sung in the street, staged in makeshift theatres, telling stories of injustice, love, war, betrayal and redemption.
Opera was never designed to be a luxury. It was always meant to be an experience – total immersion in voice, music, and human feeling. That remains true today.
Why go to the opera now?
Because no algorithm can replicate the feeling of sitting in a room with a living, breathing voice trained to move your soul without a microphone.
Because in a world of scrolling and skipping, opera forces you to pause, witness, and feel – deeply and without distraction.
Because seeing a South African singer like Nontobeko Bhengu, just awarded a Fleur du Cap and soon heading to the Bavarian State Opera, perform on home soil is a cultural moment. Because hearing Mkhanyiseli Dyantyi, bound for the National Opera Studio in London, bring Verdi’s Il Trovatore to life at Cape Town City Hall is not only powerful – it’s historic.
And because yes, opera is often in a foreign language. But heartbreak is universal. So is desire. So is the sound of someone putting everything they have into a single note.
The myth of inaccessibility
Opera has often been accused of gatekeeping, and not without reason. For too long, the art form has suffered under the weight of its own perceived exclusivity.
But that’s changing – not just globally, but right here in South Africa. Institutions like Opera UCT are dismantling that myth by making opera accessible, relevant, and proudly rooted in the African experience. They are training the next generation of voices – many from underserved communities – to take their rightful place on the world stage.
And performances like their upcoming concert staging of Il Trovatore show that opera doesn’t need fancy costumes or sets to be powerful. When the music is honest, the setting becomes secondary.
A renaissance, not a revival
To say that opera is “coming back” suggests it went somewhere. But it’s always been here – quietly waiting for us to listen again.
In this age of curated perfection and attention fatigue, opera reminds us what it means to feel – raw, unfiltered, and unashamed. It asks us to sit still and be moved. To be human.
And in 2025, what could be more revolutionary than that?
Tickets for the one night only concert performance of Il Trovatore (26th June at Cape Town City Hall), are on Webtickets and start at R175 per person. (Tickets for Schools, NPOs and NGOs for the 14H00 Final Dress Rehearsal can be purchased at a nominal sum on Quicket.
