Kelly Kaduce as Suor Angelica, a role she will sing at Florida Grand Opera.

Opera has its roots in the late 16th century as an entertainment for the cognoscenti, and it’s arguable that no other art form is so artificial. And yet it’s also true that few other art forms have enjoyed the new lease on life opera currently is enjoying in the early 21st century.

One of the best things that’s happened to opera is that it works so well in video formats, and, like him or hate him, Peter Gelb has managed to give the venerable Metropolitan Opera in New York legions of fresh audiences by broadcasting performances live in regular commercial movie houses (here’s the schedule of the operas this season; the first broadcast was Saturday).

It’s not just the Met that’s made an effort. Every other opera house in the country has worked hard to get the word out about the glories of this special kind of musical theater, including Florida Grand Opera.

If you’re new to opera but you’d like to find out something about it, FGO has four explanatory videos on its site presented by its managing director, Justin Moss. I pulled them up to see what they were about, and I found myself quite liking them. Moss knows what he’s talking about, and he makes good cases for the operas, giving short but informative chats about these pieces and their appeal.

FGO has scaled back to four separate productions this year (though it’s really five because one is a double bill), opening Nov. 14 with the pairing of Leoncavallo’s Pagliacci and Puccini’s Suor Angelica. Donizetti’s Lucia di Lammermoor follows on Jan. 23, Rossini’s Barber of Seville bows on Feb. 20, and the season closes with Georges Bizet’s Carmen, beginning April 24.

All these operas are good box office, and Moss told me last season that’s part of FGO’s strategy. “Right now, we’re avoiding all financial risks,” he said, until the economy rebounds. Further north, the Palm Beach Opera is doing the same, cutting back to three productions (Verdi’s Otello, Mozart’s Don Giovanni, and Carmen) and substituting two performances of the Beethoven Ninth Symphony as the season opener.

A friend of mine asked me the other day: If I had only enough money to see one live opera here, which one should I see? I didn’t know about the FGO videos until I stumbled on them today, so now I think I’ll suggest she take a look at them to help make up her mind. Take a look for yourself (click on the previews a little way down the page).

It’s all about spreading the word, and this is the kind of audience-building tactic arts organizations have to pursue to fill the seats, and not just in tough economic times.