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“Ever since opera helped invent the modern fan, people have disapproved of how fans fan out. I’m not interested in enforcing hierarchies of fandom: we can be the dizzy swooner, the rigorous critic, and the warm, embracing community builder, by turns or at once. We can applaud at the correct moments, then shower the stage with roses (also correct). We can hitch ourselves to a diva’s carriage to pull it tri­umphantly through the streets (accepted), or throw panties at a tenor (less accepted, but not wholly discouraged).”

Excerpted from Avidly Reads Opera by Alison Kinney with permission from NYU Press.

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