Do you love opera?

I love it and hate it.

You hate it? And yet you …?

I love the genre, the works, the possibility of depicting the world through music.

But I hate the institution – the opera business that's supposed to bring these works to life in the manner they deserve. Instead, it's been treating them badly – albeit with some notable exceptions – for over four centuries. Regrettably, we use the same name for both the works and the institution: opera.

But you've been running opera houses and festivals yourself for decades!

Out of opposition! I wanted to change the institution. Sometimes I succeeded – for a short time, when the conditions were right. But then the natural inertia of the institution overpowered everything again. In brief: I have won battles, but lost the war. Opera cannot be changed.

So why this book?

The works don't stop asking for answers. Perhaps this book can prompt opera the institution to take a more serious approach to opera itself.