In our new CONVOCO! Podcast Corinne M. Flick speaks with Robert Carsen, theatre and opera director. He just did two new productions at the Salzburg Festival, La Clemenza di Tito and Jedermann.
What Opera Can Tell us About Leadership
Here’s what he said:
Whatever I’m directing, I consider all these works completely modern, and I approach the text as it was just written, because it was just written when it had its world premiere.
In opera you have the text, which is concrete, intellectual, and the music, which is abstract and emotional. And you put those two things together. This is incredibly powerful because you can comprehend what’s being said […] but the music will be interpreted by everyone differently, and it’s the irrational in opera that unlocks our emotions.
Clemency means taking a certain act of pardon or forgiveness when, in fact, the law requires something else.
Clemency is supposed to lead by the instruction of setting up the idea of a model to which we could live up to, to inspire us to be good citizens and to live with each other well.
In his third aria, Tito sings this powerful piece of music, saying it’s more important that I live according to what I feel is right […] When we have politicians who genuinely behave in this way, it can be an enormous inspiration. But it seems that there are fewer and fewer of them around.
Leaders should have a real sense of responsibility and honesty. Responsibility to the role to which they’ve been elected.