If you think opera is staid and calcified, then let me introduce you to the work of Heartbeat Opera—a small and radically innovative company. The brain-child of co-artistic directors Ethan Heard and Louisa Proske, Heartbeat Opera came into being about seven years ago. Heard and Proske loved the power and beauty of opera and wanted to create work that would speak to contemporary audiences, particularly younger listeners. To that, they focused on creating adaptations that spoke to the present, setting Carmen near a US/Mexico border-crossing, adapting Fidelio to tell a story of a Black Lives Matter activist, looking at Madama Butterfly through the eyes of her bi-racial son.  At the same time, Heartbeat presents opera in intimate spaces, so the audience can actually feel the vibration of the music which is frequently distilled into a smaller orchestra and  incorporates unusual instrumentation like electric guitar or jazz saxophone.  The results are stirring works and performances that are fresh, vital, and enlivening. In this podcast, Ethan Heard talks about Heartbeat Opera, its production of Fidelio and its incorporation of choruses of incarcerated men, the company’s online pivot during the pandemic, its deepening commitment to providing a space for social justice issues, and the glorious possibilities that opera contains.