What won’t Opera Memphis’s new executive director Ned Canty do to get people to the opera? Over the course of a recent conversation he asked if I knew a good place to go bungie jumping. You know, so he can strap a camera to his head and show people what the last few seconds of Tosca‘s life might look like. (I’m guessing like this but without the parachute). So it’s really not surprising that a man willing to hurl himself off a tower to fill a few seats might also be willing to give away a lot of tickets. There’s a catch, of course. But it’s a fun one.
Opera Memphis is looking for 100 people who have never attended an opera before. Participants must be available for Tuesday night performances and agree to see all three shows of Opera Memphis’s 2011-12 season. They must also agree to take some surveys and say a few words about their experience on camera both before and after the performance. Sounds a little bit like Survivor: Opera Island, doesn’t it?
Anybody interested in this offer can contact Opera Memphis by sending an email here: NAI@operamemphis.org
“[The] Assissi [Foundation] has made it possible for us to have access to a real statistician,” says Canty, who describes himself as a “data geek.”
“And if somebody went to the opera as part of a field trip when they were in school we’re not going to hold that against them,” he says. “It might be better to say we’re looking for people who have never ‘chosen’ to go to the opera.”
Couples and families with interested teenagers are encouraged to sign up together as long as everybody involved meets the criteria.
