The Gould Standard

Author: The Glenn Gould Foundation

A conversational podcast about the arts, culture, and contemporary society. We talk with artistic heroes working to create a more inclusive and mindful world, hear their incredible stories, and get to know what makes them tick. Our featured guests are leaders in a wide range of fields, nationalities, and lived experience, including musical composers and performers, painters, poets, filmmakers, actors, dancers, broadcasters, and more.
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Language: en

Genres: Arts, Music, Music Interviews, Performing Arts

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Alexander Neef - Opera: Intimidating or Essential?
Episode 69
Thursday, 30 April, 2026

In this episode of The Gould Standard, Alexander Neef, General Director of the Opéra national de Paris, joins Brian Levine to reframe how we think about opera, and to provide a user-friendly on-ramp for opera-curious newcomers. Beginning with its roots in Renaissance Italy, Neef traces opera’s evolution from courtly entertainment to a global cultural force, one that has continually reflected the deepest tensions, social and cultural trends of its time. From the human dramas of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and Giuseppe Verdi to the radical innovations of Richard Wagner, and the trauma-driven experimentation, sense of dislocation and alienation of the twentieth […]