Rigoletto - The Imitation of Opera

Rigoletto - The Imitation of Opera. The essence of Opera is teamwork. Good singing comes out of emotion and the situation. But why, do we hear so much sounding like imitation of the past. I spend hours and hours with students rehearsing recitatives, question and answer, stimulus and response, reaction, yet today, we are back in yesteryear. Make beautiful sound, sing to the audience, the hell with the play. I noticed this the other night live. The leads excellent, but are we imitating Opera instead of singing Opera, or is our Met appearance the only thing that is important. We certainly are an international Opera House. We are dealing with different nationalities, different training. Would Boris Goldovsky turn over in his grave. Is this the Essence or the death of Opera? Early Opera imitating speech. What is Opera then?