Visionary director Yuval Sharon has been celebrated as one of the world’s most innovative opera impresarios, yet he has never adhered to traditional form, observing that most operas “suffer the dull edge of routine in unimaginative and woefully under-rehearsed productions”. Sharon seeks to disrupt conventions by urging the performance of opera in “non-spaces” like parking lots; amplifying voices; and even performing classic works in reverse order. Surveying the role of opera in America and drawing on his experiences from Berlin to Los Angeles, Sharon lays out his vision for an “anti-elite opera”, which celebrates the imagination and challenges the status quo. Refusing to believe that opera is dying, Sharon maintains that opera has always existed in a perpetual cycle of death and rebirth. Engaging and accessible, A New Philosophy of Opera, with its advocacy of opera as an “enchanted space” and its revolutionary message, promises to be one of the liveliest opera books in years.

"Persuasively argued and filled with lively and approachable details, ‘A New Philosophy of Opera’ brims with Mr. Sharon’s passion for the form . . . His own productions, discussed in the book, offer fascinating examples of how Mr. Sharon rethinks and recombines opera’s basic elements of text, music and theater in ways that upend expectations." -- Heidi Waleson - Wall Street Journal
"Yuval Sharon’s ‘A New Philosophy of Opera’ is a refreshing, reassuring book about an old art form’s bright future . . . Opera has always been less like fiction and more like poetry, says the author: ‘looser, more associative, and more interested in potential meanings that arise from familiar words being used in unfamiliar ways.’ Whether rethinking an old work or creating a new one, Sharon means to keep it that way." -- David Kirby - The Washington Post
"[I]n this treatise for the artform… Sharon is most compelling when writing from personal experience, particularly when highlighting the differences between opera in Germany and the US." -- Claire Jackson - BBC Music Magazine
"[Sharon] challenges the status quo and proposes radical new ways to present operas new and old. Expect insight, originality and some contentious views that will stimulate debate." -- Richard Fairman - Best Books of 2024: Classical and Pop Music - Financial Times

Yuval Sharon is an opera director and a MacArthur fellow. He founded The Industry in Los Angeles and has served as artistic director of the Detroit Opera since 2020. He will direct the Metropolitan Opera’s new Ring cycle beginning in 2028.