"Heroes in an opera are cardboard cut outs, one dimmensional people; honorable, kingly, and hypocritical in their human flattery. It's not just the roles or the acting...even in their private lives, opera people often take on the demeanor of a "character from a bygone era..." For those of us outside of the operatic world, this is becoming more and more unacceptable."

Krystian Lupa, the well known theatrical director who recently debuted in the opera, shares his critical views on the state of contemporary operatic arts and what needs to be done in order to revive the splendor and meaning of opera in our time. Ewa Likowska: You recently debuted as the director of Mozart's "Enchanted Flute" at the Wiener Festwochen festival. Have you become fascinated with opera? Krystian Lupa: On the contrary. I highly dislike opera. Ewa Likowska: What is it that you so dislike about opera? Krystian Lupa: I was under the impression that opera is an art that is in the midst of metamorphosis, that it wants to change its' language and is seeking new creative talents who would rejuvinate it, introduce new narrative tools, and above all change the acting, because traditional operatic acting is exremely anachronistic. However, clearly this old model finds favor amongst the operatic loving public, and amongst operatic actors; that is singers. The conventional