CONTEMPORARY MUSIC(AL) THEATRE IN LATVIA: PROBLEM OF DEFINITIONS AND FORMATS

The article aims to discuss the existing problem in contemporary art criticism, when previous genre definitions and descriptions do not match to current phenomena in question. The contemporary music(al) theatre productions tend to by diverse and often produced as hybrids, interdisciplinary projects that do not allow a single method of analysis characteristic to one of the combined artistic disciplines. The three examples provided are defined by their authors as a contemporary chamber opera, a contemporary musical and opera-film, showing the diversity of music(al) theatre genres emerging today in new form. The author concludes that the hybridization of genres and the devised creation method implies the questioning of former analytical instruments and discourses in order to develop the criticism of performing arts along with the research subject.