Callas and Her Doubles

Metamorphoses of Aura in the Digital Age

João Pedro Cachopo (Autor)

Buch | Hardcover

192 Seiten

2026
Bloomsbury Academic (Verlag)
979-8-7651-6692-5 (ISBN)

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Examines the intensification of the myth of Maria Callas in the 21st century, focusing on media-driven projects around the celebrated soprano that illustrate the coexistence of technological euphoria and cultural nostalgia in the digital age.

João Pedro Cachopo examines the intensification of the myth of Maria Callas in the 21st century, focusing on media-driven projects around the celebrated soprano that illustrate the coexistence of technological euphoria and cultural nostalgia in the digital age.

Nearly 50 years after the death of Maria Callas (1923-1977), the myth of the legendary soprano not only persists but has gained new intensity. The Callas phenomenon has transcended the realm of opera, revealing a paradox of our time: the intertwining of technological euphoria and cultural nostalgia.

This intensification extends far beyond traditional tributes, such as exhibitions and biographies. It is characterized by a wave of technologically ambitious projects that stand out for their media complexity and artistic boldness. In 2017, Tom Volf initiated the Maria by Callas project, encompassing an immersive exhibition and an innovative documentary. The following year, Callas in Concert, a live show with a hologram of the singer, toured internationally. More recently, in September 2020, Marina Abramovic premiered her multimedia opera-performance, 7 Deaths of Maria Callas, at the Bayerische Staatsoper.

All this raises a fundamental question: in an era dominated by technical reproducibility, is the value of aura in decline, or is it metamorphosing? And what does the acceleration of the Callas myth reveal, not only about the artist and her legacy, but also about contemporary culture and our collective imagination?

João Pedro Cachopo teaches Philosophy of Music at the New University of Lisbon, Portugal. He is the author of The Digital Pandemic (Bloomsbury, 2022) and the co-editor of Rancière and Music (2020). His essays have appeared in journals such as The Opera Quarterly, New German Critique and 19th-Century Music.

Prologue: Callas today
1. Back to the Arena di Verona
2. The senses of aura
3. Artist and woman in her own words
4. A live concert with a dead singer
5. On myth: fugue or variations?
6. The diva is present
7. Posthumous duet
8. Portraits of the interpreter as a genius
9. One thousand and one nights at the cinema
10. The statue and the swarm

Erscheint lt. Verlag	6.8.2026
Reihe/Serie	New Approaches to Sound, Music, and Media
Verlagsort	New York
Sprache	englisch
Maße	152 x 229 mm
Themenwelt	Kunst / Musik / Theater ► Musik ► Klassik / Oper / Musical
ISBN-13	979-8-7651-6692-5 / 9798765166925
Zustand	Neuware