Where’s The “People” In The “People’s Opera”?

New York City Opera has been “aggressively lobbying to be named the flagship institution in the new cultural presence at ground zero. To its evident surprise, it has encountered resistance. As of this writing, no decision has been announced, but the downtown powers seem to want a greater diversity of artistic expression. City Opera represented that last flush of idealism in which the common man was to be bettered by high culture. What caused the erosion of that old sense of obligation, and why does our ‘people’s opera’ no longer seem popular — or even welcome — at ground zero? The answer, not to be judgmental about it, is the rise of popular culture.”