When I was a little girl I was exposed to Opera in two ways: Looney Tunes and school field trips. Our schools (elementary and high school) use to take free trips to the local museums and Classical music center. Many of us had music classes, and in elementary I had a phenomenal music teacher who taught us how to play the piano, read music, and I even joined the choir.

After so much musical encouragement, I wanted to grow up to be Leontyne Price, who I saw in some television performance, but it was not to be. When I reached puberty my voice changed too much and I gave up that dream (it's okay because around the same time I discovered the fiber and visual arts). But I still love opera. We don't have opera houses where I am now, but I'm often exposed to it and other Classical music in movies.

My point is that exposure when young does indeed breed interest in the genre, and we've all suffered in more ways than one by arts defunding in schools.

Also, opera is another one of the businesses that's suffering from wilt. It's a dying art form because even the wealthy are no longer enough to sustain it as a worldwide art form. There just aren't enough of them interested either. This is an art form that realizes that it needs to try to reach new audiences.