You want them to sit in a darkened theater, silent, watching antics in a language they don't understand? For three hours? Get over yourself. Puccini didn't even want that. Puccini's audience sat in the orchestra section of a lively theater, eating, drinking and smoking. They cheered for their favorite singers. They booed mediocre performances. They spoke the language. They understood what was happening, because it was modern. They got every subtle political reference. Librettists were broke artists who made fun of the bourgeoisie, and the common man ate it up. They turned Verdi's name into the battle cry for the people. They didn't sit and listen to operas in English, studying them in advance, trying to keep up with a translation. They didn't want to do the work to enjoy a performance, and neither do kids today. And you don't get to fault them for that. [...]

What opera has become, at a time before I began singing, before I was born, possibly before or around the time my parents were born, is an affront to everything I believe about opera.

And that's all well and good, but then she describes how it ought to be, using as an example a party that she did not even invite me to:

A couple of weeks ago, I was invited to perform at an event in an underground creek. The producers heard about me, and invited me to sing in this insane series of acoustically amazing tunnels. Hundreds of people came through, I help a marching band to lower its instruments through a manhole. High tea was served. An art gallery lined the walls. There were aerialists. A water slide.

Did not invite me.

Previously, previously, previously, previously, previously.