SMACKDOWN: CONCERT SIMULCASTS August 24, 2010 – WNYC’s Soundcheck with John Schaefer. As opera houses and orchestras simulcast their performances into movie theatres across the country, critics charge that it’s turning classical music into a cheap reality show. Fans say it’s as addictive as popcorn. It’s our Soundcheck Smackdown debate.
Tim Page, professor of music and journalism at the University of Southern California and former Pulitzer Prize-winning music critic at the Washington Post and Drew McManus, an orchestra consultant who writes the blog Adaptistration, debate whether these screenings are a way to make opera accessible to more people…or just cheap seats.