<p>One wonders why schools feel the need to “dumb down” for the audiences- which is what they seem to imply when the say that they can not offer translations of the libretto, line for line… People have always gotten along just fine with nothing more than a simple synopsis of the plot in their program and my suspicion is that they still would! It’s the students performing that are being short-changed by the need to always sing in English (although that’s not an issue with Copeland ) and I’d like to see some of them band together and go to the department chairs asking that the operas be performed in their original languages, since, presumably, said students are hoping for a career elsewhere which will demand that they sing as written. Just a thought.</p>