To the new head of NZ Opera

I read the RNZ article; I see your argument regarding state support, but I think it's naive to think that New Zealanders have any particular passion for opera. To create the change that you're suggesting, we'd need a repertoire of Kiwi operas that people connect to. That's literally what the American musical was. - I'm not keen btw -- maybe the Perfumed Garden, but my current ideas aren't opera and I'm rather trying to push away from that, as I dislike the privilege and the attitude of those people. In Europe, they connect to the operas because they're part of their culture, but what does Rossini or Berg have to do with Aotearoa, particularly given that we don't have a surplus of Italian or German migrants? These are also the transphobes, which genuinely irritates me given how modern opera loves nudity and gender-bending. As I say, stage is different to life, and I'm alive and trans in real neighbourhoods, rather than bottling it up for phony stage roles. To me, it's all a bunch of closet cases that lack the courage to challenge straights. - As for my own operas: well, we paid for Portrait of a Knight ourselves then put it on NZ on Screen and Facebook for free. That's probably why it has resonance. Same with These Words Are Meant For Someone. Total sums spent -- something like $60,000.

Then the Dakumentary is another $60,000. Compared to the millions that it costs to stage an opera, I think I have the moral right to say that I'm more aware of what a regular audience wants. I disagree that there's anything inherently wrong with a boutique form that is inherently somewhat elitist being paid for by the elite rather than taxpayers (who have never attended an opera). I'd extend that argument to the NZSO -- I realise that $19 million split among 5 million people is like $3.75 each or something, but it's only funding an audience of around 80,000 (if Te Pātī Māori's numbers are correct). This seems genuinely unfair, and I reckon my arguments probably browbeat Labour into adding that Te Matitini funding (for an audience of over a million). Perhaps NZ Opera should make good quality videos and put those online for free if they want to boost their audience. - You can't have my original songs. I will never agree to staging Shipwrecked: it's a movie, and I'm not doing my life story for the bigots.

The bigots have no legal right to stop me from crossdressing, so they can give up and simply accept that I'm not breaking the law (other than smoking weed). 👋