I don't think Opera can be viewed in monolithic or universally valid terms.

1a. Opera in Germany / Austria is not in crisis at this time. The issue that outsiders have is their acceptance of Regietheater. But a big motivator of Regietheater is the staleness of the repertoire from Mozart to Richard Strauss pre WW1 If you are seeing Tosca for the 30th time one might be looking for a bit of crazy Regietheater to liven it up. Of course the problem is that Regietheater is too often highly predictable itself.

1b. Opera in the US and Americas has always been a foreign import and there is not gong to be an indigenous operatic culture anytime soon. This also true of the UK to a lesser extent.

1c. Opera in Asia is doing fairly well. Russia is still providing a large percentage of singers and conductors although more recently there has been a surge from Scandinavia too. China and S. Korea are also providing operatic talent to the world.


2 Baroque opera. The incredible renaissance of Baroque opera (and music) is where the energy is in opera currently. Plus the classical audience is increasingly drawn to lighter rather than heavier interpretation of even basic repertoire. Some of this is HIP inspired but some is just socio-cultural fashions du jour. But many trad opera goers have no interest in Baroque opera so this activity is invisible to them.

3. Because of the HIP movement mentioned above, no one is training singers in the Tebadi, Di Stefano etc grand manner. They are being trained in coloratura and Baroque styles to an increasing extent. So you end up with Vogt singing Paul in Die Tote Stadt and Lohengrin.

4. The audience and music producers are also partly to blame as they no longer have any curiosity about excellent but non mainstream repertoire. There are 8 excellent Massenet operas not called Manon or Werther for example plus others such as Goldmark's Queen of Sheba, Lalo's Le Roi D'Ys, Chausson's Le Roi Arthurs or the neo Romantics like Zemlinsky and Schreker and Barber. It is not necessary to have a big expensive staging either with a bit of imagination although some producers think a bare stage with some thin curtains is wonderful.

5. Opera recordings and Youtube videos are often a turnoff for opera newbies because of the shrillness and distortion made by inadequate playback systems. It would be a good thing IMO for many more modest subsidies to get younger people under 30 into a live opera where the voices sound much more natural.