David Leventi’s Meticulous Opera Photography

Photographer David Leventi, known for his detailed architectural interiors, has included prisons, aircraft hangars and other settings in his extensive work. But he is best known for the acclaimed series OPERA, which has been exhibited internationally.

OPERA is a series of crisp, dramatic records of the world’s famous opera houses, all photographed with 4×5” and 8×10” Arca-Swiss cameras to maximize detail. Architecturally meticulous, this body of work serves to historically document these national and cultural landmarks, Leventi says in his artist statement.

The series covers more than 40 opera houses spanning four centuries and four continents, and is presented in a volume entitled Opera, published by Damiani with a foreword by Placido Domingo.

Leventi’s grandfather was a cantor, interned in the Soviet Union

“These are the spaces in which my grandfather, Anton Gutman, never got the chance to perform,” Leventi says. “Gutman was a cantor trained right after World War II by Helge Rosvaenge, a famous Danish operatic tenor who sang regularly with the State Operas in Berlin and Vienna. While Gutman was interned in a prisoner-of-war camp in the Soviet Union, he performed for prisoners and officers. Nearly a half-century later, I grew up listening to him sing while he walked around our living room. As the son of two architects, I experience an almost religious feeling walking into a grand space such as an opera house.”

Leventi’s work also includes curtains from opera houses and other theatres.

Leventi’s photography is included in prestigious private and public collections including The Sir Elton John Collection and The Cleveland Museum of Art.

Leventi, based in the U.S., is a featured artist at Toronto’s Bau-Xi Photo Gallery

See many more opera houses at David Leventi’s artist page, Bau-Xi Photo Gallery, here.

David Leventi’s website, here.

Image at Top of Post: Drottningholm Palace Theatre, Stockholm, fujicolor crystal archive print mounted to dibond. 40 x 50 in.