Find out how Opera is
Good for your Health
Opera is not only a wonderful experience for your eyes and ears, it's also highly therapeutic for your brain and body.
A 2023 report, published by Springer and edited by Lorenzo Lorusso, Michele Augusto Riva, and Vittorio Alessandro Sironi entitled "Effects of Opera Music from Brain to Body" explores the impact of opera music on both neurological and physical health.
Studies using functional magnetic resonance (fMR) show that music, and especially when accompanied by singing and movement, "is a formidable tool capable of positively affecting neuroplasticity"* which is when the brain rewires itself, in this case towards healthier connections.
Neurological Benefits
Research shows that opera music positively influences brain function; enhancing cognitive processes such as memory and attention. Due to its complex musical structures, opera engages the brain in a way that stimulates emotional and intellectual activity, which can lead to improved mental health and cognitive resilience.
Emotional Benefits
Listening to opera can also produce profound emotional effects.
Opera is unique as a musical genre in that its role is to sing the story. Each performer sings their character's feelings, their thoughts, their dialogue. This is combined with melodramatic enactment, theatrical costumes, colourful stage settings and a professional orchestral accompaniment, creating a sensational experience and strong emotions in the audience as they follow the physical and emotional story set before them.
These strong emotional expressions have been shown to help individuals better manage stress and anxiety and serve as a therapeutic tool for emotional regulation.
"Music can represent... an excellent therapy for serious diseases: from Parkinson's to Alzheimer's, from depression to acute anxiety.
And next to music therapy even more so is OPERA THERAPY that is listening to and viewing the opera, which by combining music, singing, and gestures, plays an even more beneficial action on the healthy and.... on the sick"*
Physical Health Benefits
Opera music can also contribute to physical health improvements. Studies show that listening to opera can lead to physiological changes, such as reduced blood pressure and improved heart rate variability.
'Opera Therapy'
Putting all this in to practise then, 'opera therapy' is a complementary therapeutic approach that uses elements of opera to help people suffering from a number of different health conditions.
This is exemplified in the 2005 documentary 'Opera Therapy' which follows the therapeutic journey of four people who use opera therapy to help their individual battles with cancer. Under the guidance of talented music therapist Emma O’Brien, the four are encouraged to tap into their own unique musicality to bring their stories to life as an opera. This culminates in an operatic performance supported by the creative team from the More Than Opera opera company.
The positive therapeutic effects on these four individuals are incredible to watch.
Please find references below to both the documentary and the report.
*"Effects of Opera Music from Brain to Body", p. 38 L.C Bressan and V.A Sironi.