""This would sure mean more if they also weren't going to have a white singer doing the role.
Whenever people are like BUT NO BLACK ACTORS/SINGERS CAN DO IT I'm like, one, **** you when's the last time you held auditions calling for them, and two, maybe you shouldn't do ****ing Othello then."
Casting in opera is color blind, by necessity. It's all about casting the best singer, period, in the same way you hire the best violinist you can find. Otello is an extremely difficult role to sing, and there aren't that many singers who can do it. To say we should be deprived of Antonenko's rendition just because he's white is silly.
And anyway, there's nothing saying Otello has to even be black. He could be northern African. Interpretations of Shakespeare's text vary, but since he is a Moor, it makes sense for him to be Arab rather than black. Not that it really matters, because, again, opera is color blind.
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Opera casting is always a decisive issue. It's sure is easy to say "well cast more minorities!" Ultimately, though, this can be somewhat difficult. Not because they don't exists, because non-white opera singers are certainly out there, but rather because the Met demands a certain pedigree - i.e. they insist on presenting the BEST. Which, like it or not, often means training, education, teachers, etc.
NOW, the important thing to also remember is Opera is a European tradition (i.e. Caucasian decent). Before you attack me on this, I only bring this up because it means that Caucasian families often have a deeper tradition of going to these art forms (wealth is also a big indicator). Because of that, kids are more interested in them, pursue them more often, and end up getting the best education and training because of their talent (or more often times a lot of money). Minorities, on the other hand, have traditions in other forms of entertainment, or, because of historical oppression, not a lot of 'deep' (i.e. number of years, not quality) traditions in formal art forms like this at all. This means fewer minority families tend to go to art forms like opera, ergo fewer kids get interested, ergo even fewer pursue the art form. So, just by basic math, Caucasian kids have an inherent, built in advantage.
SO, now as the Met you're tasked with bringing the best possible Opera to New York City, and you bring in the best artists to maintain that mandate. The majority of artists that fit into the requirements to sing on the Met stage are going to be Caucasian. To say, go cast a minority for the part! doesn't really solve the inherent problem that the pool is just going to be smaller. The Met has instead turned to the use of Make-up to try and manipulate the visual aspect the audience member is going to experience. They have, rightly I believe, decided to stop that practice.
What about "regional opera"? Well, because of the exorbitant cost of opera, and the lack of interest and funding, this doesn't really exist. I mean, sure, there are other companies, but the gap between those companies and say, the Met, is going to be drastic. So, many opera singers, minority or not, tend to get lost in the void because they don't have many places to actually be heard, or develop their art. Opera, much like Ballet, is a dying art form (Orchestra and Theatre are headed in that direction). Which brings us to a conversation about attracting a bigger minority audience to Opera/Orchestra/Theatre/Ballet, and I think that's the biggest step we can take to improve these conditions. More non-white people come, their kids get into it, they study it, they rise to the top, more non-white performers exist at the top, organizations like the Met have a bigger casting pool.
Now, there are many other factors that discourage or encourage certain groups to explore art forms, and we could go into many of them here, but I think it's important to point the above out for simple context of Operatic casting.
Ultimately, I'd love to know how many people posting about this actually go to the Opera on a regular basis. The answer might suggest why Opera has such a hard time surviving...
