OPERA IN POP CULTURE

You probably know a lot more about opera than you think, and you probably recognize a lot more opera music than you know. Opera has exploded into pop culture in the last decade. Take for example the fact that 1999's MTV video music awards were held live from the Metropolitan Opera at Lincoln Center and featured an operatic theme both in their advertising and programming. Read on and discover where else you might find opera in your everyday life:

Opera represents some of the hottest-selling CDs on the market.

Renée Fleming, The Three Tenors, Welsh teen opera sensation Charlotte Church, and blind tenor Andrea Bocelli are some of the hottest concert tickets and CDs around.

Opera inspires some of your favorite Broadway musicals.

Elton John and Tim Rice's AIDA is a retelling of Verdi's opera by the same name; Miss Saigon is based on Madama Butterfly and the smash hit Rent is based on La Bohème — and then of course there's The Phantom of the Opera, which is set at the Paris Opera House.

Opera is featured in many television commercials.

There are more than 65 companies that have used opera in their television ads, including Nike, Sony, Pepsi, Dunkin Donuts, Ford Motor Company, Pizza Hut and MasterCard.

Opera has been featured in major motion pictures.

Opera's dramatic elements and music lend themselves well to the movies and have been featured in movies too numerable to count, including G.I. Jane, The Fifth Element, Life is Beautiful, Apocalypse Now, The Mirror Has Two Faces, Hannah and Her Sisters and Diva.

See if you can match the opera and the movie below:

ANSWERS:
Philadelphia – Andrea Chénier
Moonstruck – La Bohème
The Witches of Eastwick – Turandot
Pretty Woman – La Traviata
A Room with a View – Gianni Schicchi
Fatal Attraction – Madama Butterfly

Special Thanks to The Atlanta Opera for permission to use the Opera in Pop Culture section from their website.