Resounding success for Operetta conference

"Gaiety, Glitz and Glamour – or Dispirited Historical Dregs? A Re-Evaluation of Operetta" conference receives critical acclaim.

Professor Derek Scott recently organised an international operetta conference “Gaiety, Glitz and Glamour – or Dispirited Historical Dregs? A Re-Evaluation of Operetta” which is affiliated with the project “German Operetta in London, New York and Warsaw (GOLNY)”, and funded by the European Research Council.

The conference was well attended by delegates from across the globe, and received much critical acclaim from scholars and researchers of operetta.
One of the highlights was an evening recital by renowned soprano Beatrice Beer, performing some of the works of her father, the late Joseph Beer.

Prof Scott was keen to explore and re-evaluate the standard English language discourse around operetta, and challenge the perception that it is and old-fashioned genre with little relevance to a more modern audience.
“Operetta shines a light on a whole variety of social tensions, desires, aspirations and anxieties. That may be most obvious in nineteenth-century satirical operetta, but it is still to be found in twentieth-century operettas, which frequently engage with modernity, cosmopolitanism, gender relations, transnational business networks, new technology, and so forth.”

The conference speakers explored operetta from multiple angles, such as financial gains and the business of operetta, the impact the Nazis and war had on both composition and performance, and operetta in the age of #metoo.

Plans are being made to publish the conference papers, and more news on this will follow soon.