{"title":"Matthew Aucoin","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eMatthew Aucoin\u003c\/strong\u003e offers a compelling exploration of the arts through thoughtfully crafted narratives and insightful perspectives. His works, such as \u003cem\u003eThe Impossible Art\u003c\/em\u003e, delve into the intricate world of music, creativity, and cultural expression, inviting readers to appreciate the profound impact of artistic endeavour.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eIdeal for those passionate about \u003cem\u003eArts \u0026amp; Culture\u003c\/em\u003e, Aucoin's writing bridges the gap between artistic theory and the lived experience of creativity. His prose captures the dynamic dialogue between innovation and tradition in the cultural landscape.\u003c\/p\u003e","products":[{"product_id":"the-impossible-art-by-matthew-aucoin-9781250858818","title":"The Impossible Art","description":"\u003cdiv class=\"book-description\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eFrom its beginning, opera has been an impossible art. Its first practitioners, in seventeenth-century Florence, set themselves the unreachable goal of reproducing the wonders of ancient Greek drama, which no one can be sure was sung in the first place. Opera's greatest artists have striven to fuse multiple art forms—music, drama, poetry, dance—into a unified synesthetic experience.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eThe composer Matthew Aucoin, a rising star of the opera world, posits that it is this impossibility that gives opera its exceptional power and serves as its lifeblood. The virtuosity required of its performers, the bizarre and often spectacular nature of its stage productions, the creation of a whole world whose basic fabric is music—opera assumes its true form when it pursues impossible goals.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eThe Impossible Art\u003c\/em\u003e is a passionate defence of what is best about opera, a love letter to the form, written in the midst of a global pandemic during which operatic performance was (literally) impossible. Aucoin writes of the rare works—ranging from classics by Mozart and Verdi to contemporary offerings of Thomas Adès and Chaya Czernowin—that capture something essential about human experience. He illuminates the symbiotic relationship between composers and librettists, between opera's greatest figures and those of literature.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eAucoin also tells the story of his new opera, \u003cem\u003eEurydice\u003c\/em\u003e, from its inception to its production on the Metropolitan Opera's iconic stage. \u003cem\u003eThe Impossible Art\u003c\/em\u003e opens the theatre door and invites the reader into this extraordinary world.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Macmillan Publishers New Zealand Ltd","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":48244596932844,"sku":"9781250858818","price":39.99,"currency_code":"NZD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0705\/7784\/8556\/files\/9781250858818-the-impossible-art-1.jpg?v=1788004419"}],"url":"https:\/\/bookhero.live\/collections\/matthew-aucoin.oembed","provider":"Book Hero","version":"1.0","type":"link"}