Periodic Reporting for period 1 - OPANDA (Opera Fandom in the Digital Age)
Berichtszeitraum: 2022-11-01 bis 2024-10-31
Opera hinges on audience participation. Throughout history, opera audiences have shaped theatrical spaces, cultural policies and communication networks, influencing production models, canons, and even politics. Despite their significance, however, opera fans have been largely understudied. Situated at the intersection of musicology, sociology and media studies, the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Action OPANDA (Opera Fandom in the Digital Age) has pioneered the study of contemporary opera fans, including their digital practices and communities. Challenging received ideas of inert spectatorship, OPANDA has revealed how opera lovers may defy established cultural practices, norms of behaviours and hierarchies in a hyper-mediatised society in which the divide between stage and screen is constantly blurred.
Based at La Sapienza University of Rome, OPANDA has benefited from a training-focused secondment at the Digital Ethnography Research Centre in Melbourne and a dissemination-focused secondment at the Music Department of Yale University. OPANDA’s scholars have been chosen for their excellent track record and for the complementarity of their expertise, ranging from sociology of art and opera studies to fan studies and digital ethnography.
Three research and innovation objectives (ROs) have been pursued.
RO1. To map the impact of digital media in shaping the practices, discourses and interactions of opera fans via a digital ethnography of a measurable set of web communities, forums and fanzines devoted to opera in Italy, France and the US.
RO2. To analyse how opera fans physically experience operatic locations and performative events via short fieldwork periods in three opera companies: Teatro alla Scala (Milan), Paris Opera and the Metropolitan Opera (the Met, New York).
RO3. To analyse the evolving intersections between cyber-fandom (online) and traditional fan behaviour (offline) in relation to opera.
OPANDA has also highlighted the role of opera fan communities in producing and sometimes resisting dominant gender models. Throughout the research process, attention has been given to trajectories and discursive strategies of potentially discriminated users (e.g. women, LGBTQ+ opera fans) and other marginalised groups. This analysis has shown how gender identities, ethnic backgrounds, physical abilities and economic status impact fan practices and sway media discourses.
Based at La Sapienza University of Rome, OPANDA has benefited from a training-focused secondment at the Digital Ethnography Research Centre in Melbourne and a dissemination-focused secondment at the Music Department of Yale University. OPANDA’s scholars have been chosen for their excellent track record and for the complementarity of their expertise, ranging from sociology of art and opera studies to fan studies and digital ethnography.
Three research and innovation objectives (ROs) have been pursued.
RO1. To map the impact of digital media in shaping the practices, discourses and interactions of opera fans via a digital ethnography of a measurable set of web communities, forums and fanzines devoted to opera in Italy, France and the US.
RO2. To analyse how opera fans physically experience operatic locations and performative events via short fieldwork periods in three opera companies: Teatro alla Scala (Milan), Paris Opera and the Metropolitan Opera (the Met, New York).
RO3. To analyse the evolving intersections between cyber-fandom (online) and traditional fan behaviour (offline) in relation to opera.
OPANDA has also highlighted the role of opera fan communities in producing and sometimes resisting dominant gender models. Throughout the research process, attention has been given to trajectories and discursive strategies of potentially discriminated users (e.g. women, LGBTQ+ opera fans) and other marginalised groups. This analysis has shown how gender identities, ethnic backgrounds, physical abilities and economic status impact fan practices and sway media discourses.
OPANDA’s methodology has been based on a comparative and qualitative analysis of representative case studies, combining digital ethnography, participant observation on-site at opera companies, and interviews.
Participatory ethnography has been used to shed light on the multifaceted nature of opera fandom. More concretely, digital ethnography among fan cyber-communities has been combined with on-site participant observation of the operagoers of three opera houses (La Scala, Paris Opera and the Met). The digital is understood here as part of a wider environment of activities, technologies, materialities and feelings that are experienced both offline and online. The integration of digital ethnography and physical methods of participation has been useful to describe experiences, practices, and relations of fans, but also the values attached to specific localities and events.
Select forums, social media groups and fanzines in Italian, French and English have been analysed to map the impact of digital media on opera fandom, pursuing a comparative digital ethnography (RO1). Offline participant observation of operagoers at La Scala, Paris Opera and the Met has been used to describe how opera fans physically experience operatic locations and performative events (RO2). Online and offline ethnography are complemented by in-depth interviews, chiefly with fans (RO3).
Participatory ethnography has been used to shed light on the multifaceted nature of opera fandom. More concretely, digital ethnography among fan cyber-communities has been combined with on-site participant observation of the operagoers of three opera houses (La Scala, Paris Opera and the Met). The digital is understood here as part of a wider environment of activities, technologies, materialities and feelings that are experienced both offline and online. The integration of digital ethnography and physical methods of participation has been useful to describe experiences, practices, and relations of fans, but also the values attached to specific localities and events.
Select forums, social media groups and fanzines in Italian, French and English have been analysed to map the impact of digital media on opera fandom, pursuing a comparative digital ethnography (RO1). Offline participant observation of operagoers at La Scala, Paris Opera and the Met has been used to describe how opera fans physically experience operatic locations and performative events (RO2). Online and offline ethnography are complemented by in-depth interviews, chiefly with fans (RO3).
Fans develop distinctive patterns of interpretation, social interaction, and cultural production based on their community’s shared passion. The internet has reinforced fan communities, enabling networked fandom to promote various subcultures.
First, OPANDA has pioneered the study of the digital practices of opera fans – specifically, the actions involving digital, social, and streaming media. Through these platforms, fans express their identities and relationships based on their shared passion.
Second, OPANDA has made significant contributions to fan studies. Nineteenth-century operagoers can be considered the first modern fans, shaped by a shared enthusiasm, emerging urban culture, and new technologies. By investigating today’s opera fandom, the project has examined the latest developments in this prototypical fandom.
Third, OPANDA has addressed key debates regarding the future of the performing arts after the COVID-19 pandemic. It has explored how ‘cyber-spectatorship’ is reshaping the experience of performing arts, demonstrating how opera cyber-fans are promoting horizontal participation and challenge traditional depictions of opera as a highbrow art form.
Fourth, OPANDA has de-centered the digital as the sole focus of research, instead connecting it to other material, physical, and experiential elements. Central to this approach is the concept of ‘digital connectivity,’ reflecting a transition from a relatively one-way broadcast culture to a communicative ecology of networked devices, spaces, and temporalities.
Fifth, OPANDA has supported a broadened focus in music studies, shifting from an emphasis on the creators of musical works (i.e. composers) to the exploration of complex networks involving institutions, media, and audiences.
By launching a new research strand, the project has also fostered an understanding of the networks linking creative institutions, audiences and digital media, with impacts extending beyond academia. On an economic level, digital companies in the performing arts can utilise OPANDA’s findings as scholarly resources. Through interactions with stakeholders and non-academic institutions (e.g. opera companies) across different continents, OPANDA has built bridges between scholars, theaters and audiences, enhancing the social relevance of EU research initiatives. In the long term, the project will contribute to strengthening the future of the performing arts by enhancing our understanding of the social impacts of cyber-consumption and the diffusion of opera, a celebrated site of Europe’s cultural heritage.
First, OPANDA has pioneered the study of the digital practices of opera fans – specifically, the actions involving digital, social, and streaming media. Through these platforms, fans express their identities and relationships based on their shared passion.
Second, OPANDA has made significant contributions to fan studies. Nineteenth-century operagoers can be considered the first modern fans, shaped by a shared enthusiasm, emerging urban culture, and new technologies. By investigating today’s opera fandom, the project has examined the latest developments in this prototypical fandom.
Third, OPANDA has addressed key debates regarding the future of the performing arts after the COVID-19 pandemic. It has explored how ‘cyber-spectatorship’ is reshaping the experience of performing arts, demonstrating how opera cyber-fans are promoting horizontal participation and challenge traditional depictions of opera as a highbrow art form.
Fourth, OPANDA has de-centered the digital as the sole focus of research, instead connecting it to other material, physical, and experiential elements. Central to this approach is the concept of ‘digital connectivity,’ reflecting a transition from a relatively one-way broadcast culture to a communicative ecology of networked devices, spaces, and temporalities.
Fifth, OPANDA has supported a broadened focus in music studies, shifting from an emphasis on the creators of musical works (i.e. composers) to the exploration of complex networks involving institutions, media, and audiences.
By launching a new research strand, the project has also fostered an understanding of the networks linking creative institutions, audiences and digital media, with impacts extending beyond academia. On an economic level, digital companies in the performing arts can utilise OPANDA’s findings as scholarly resources. Through interactions with stakeholders and non-academic institutions (e.g. opera companies) across different continents, OPANDA has built bridges between scholars, theaters and audiences, enhancing the social relevance of EU research initiatives. In the long term, the project will contribute to strengthening the future of the performing arts by enhancing our understanding of the social impacts of cyber-consumption and the diffusion of opera, a celebrated site of Europe’s cultural heritage.