Sex in opera

2013-09-06:

Have any operas been performed yet which incorporate actual sex within the opera?
Certainly many performances of opera from the classical repertoire,
from Monteverdi’s Ulisse and Poppea on,
have featured the star divas engaging in highly suggestive behavior.
But what about real, out-and-out, unclothed, unsimulated sex acts?
I.e., an X-rated opera.
I am not aware of such.

Anyhow, surely some have thought of such an idea.
It would certainly expand the audience for opera.

What sopranos (or altos) might be willing to and be successful at
performing in such a dual role, both singing and performing sex?
Most likely, they would be from the younger generation.

But I would like to propose three now middle-aged divas
who I, personally, think would be outstanding in such a role.
One is Catherine Nagelstad (born 1965), who did such a fantastic job of combining great singing with excellent acting in her (1999) performance in Alcina by Handel.

Click here for another upload of the same the video.
She proved that her singing quality and acting ability still are as great as ever
in her performance as Brünnhilde in Wagner’s Siegfried.


another soprano is Lucy Crowe,
who has appeared in several masterpieces from the Baroque era,
in both a staged and non-staged setting,
where she has combined excellent singing with an evident willingness to stress her womanly attributes.

The third is Carolyn Sampson,
featured. e.g., in these three arias from Semele.


Would they consider going “all the way”?
If so, I am sure they would win even more admirers.

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See the post Salome: Nudity in Opera, and links from that post,
for quite a discussion of the post's title topic.

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Some opera productions certainly have some vivid examples of simulated sex:

Handel, Alcina, Patricia Petibon, Festival d'Aix-en-Provence 2015

(Available on Warner Classics if not at YouTube!)

And some have quite a bit of nudity:

Alban Berg, Lulu, Calixto Bieito directing

Finally, some opreratic productions do manage to just be quite sexy.

E.g., the ultra buff lady soprano in this production of Janacek's Makropulos Affair:  

https://youtu.be/gPOkG40fwT0

which certainly features two very good points :-)