New Opera is the new norm. American Opera singers are not only expected to have mastered the standard repertoire, but also the skills to learn operas being composed today. But even now, the American operatic musical language is expanding and with it, the expectation of singers to arrive at workshops, first rehearsals, or even a coaching, with a solid understanding of the musical, vocal, and dramatic landscape. 

In today's modern Western world many of us seem to have lost touch with that aesthetic, insightful part of ourselves, our "gut level" or heart feeling when it comes to the world of music and performing. We have become a brain culture; we tend to live inside our heads.