More trouble at ENO

[Conchis]

Sorry. I read that as 'more than two'. I hope you are wrong. ENO still has a mission to provide opera at a low cost. Wonderful as it is, the Royal Opera is very expensive.

If you want a stalls or grand circle seat, I'd agree - the ROH is prohibitively expensive. The Ampitheatre, though, remains affordable for most events (although things get a bit steep when Jonas Kaufmann et al are in residence). And there are last minute bargains to be picked up occasionally; also, you might be able to pick up a day seat if you don't mind being an early bird. :)

[Hornspieler]

If you want a stalls or grand circle seat, I'd agree - the ROH is prohibitively expensive. The Ampitheatre, though, remains affordable for most events (although things get a bit steep when Jonas Kaufmann et al are in residence). And there are last minute bargains to be picked up occasionally; also, you might be able to pick up a day seat if you don't mind being an early bird. :)

As long as the Arts Council continue to treat the Royal Opera House as a Sacred Cow, all other Opera companies, Provincial Symphony Orchestras and Threatrical companies will suffer.

No Expense spared!

Years ago, I was told by a member of the Covent Garden Staff that for some mammoth productions, an entire cast of deputies were paid on a standby basis

I don't suppose that this sort of needless extravagance is still practised, but there is no doubt in my mind that in the attitudes of the Arts Council, Provincial Opera companies (and that includes the ENO, who do a lot of touring) are very low down in the list of priorities, although it is they that take opera to the masses - at ticket prices that "the man in the street" can afford.

The late Emil Borsdorff, son of the legendary player and teacher Adolf Borsdorff, told me that he was walking through Mainz in Germany; carrying his horn case and a navvy, working in a trench saw him and called out ""Ach! Waldhorn!" and then proceeded to whistle the Horn Call from Siegfried.***

HS

*** Here's a quote from my brother about his National Service in the RAF.

The flight sergeant in charge of his new group of recruits addressed them thus::

"Na pay attention! There's a bloke coming from the Educational Centre this afternoon to give you a lecture on Keats.

You're such an ignorant lot of b______s, I don't suppose any of you even know what a Keat is."

[Howdenite]

Wonderful as it is, the Royal Opera is very expensive.

This is always said, but I find the opposite. You do have to buy tickets well ahead to be sure of getting cheaper seats at ROH, but I have to plan anyway as I live far away and have to book places to stay and transport. There are day tickets for people close by who don't have to buy train tickets 3 months in advance. For those of us who book ahead, there are lots of seats/stands at Covent Garden that I think are great that range from (picking Werther or Nabucco from upcoming operas as prices vary) £55 to £47 in stalls circle or balcony sides, and uncomfortable but good seats in the slips (if you lean out) for only £29. There are some excellent (and some very bad) standing places for £14. At ENO, I'm afraid I find the balcony simply out of the question for comfort or for feeling like I'm in the same building as the singers. Stalls start at £99. Dress circle starts at £79. Upper circle has back seats at £39, but you're much farther away from the action than in the seats I like at ROH.

A lot of unnecessary detail above, I know, but I hear so often that Royal Opera is prohibitively expensive, yet I don't find it so!

[Hornspieler]

All very sad but I'm not convinced that there is space in London any more for two opera companies.

...That said, I think ENO will survive in some form, as otherwise London will 'look' culturally inferior to other European cities like Berlin.

............... Which they already are! (see my later post)

HS

[jean]

Never mind London and Berlin - I'm more interested in the huge cultural gap between British provincial cities and European ones.

Where's the British equivalent of Deutsche Oper am Rhein?

[Rolmill]

This is always said, but I find the opposite. You do have to buy tickets well ahead to be sure of getting cheaper seats at ROH.....For those of us who book ahead, there are lots of seats/stands at Covent Garden that I think are great that range from (picking Werther or Nabucco from upcoming operas as prices vary) £55 to £47 in stalls circle or balcony sides, and uncomfortable but good seats in the slips (if you lean out) for only £29. There are some excellent (and some very bad) standing places for £14.

But most of these good value seats are only in practice available to Friends who get priority booking, in my experience. In the days when I lived closer and was able to get to ROH more regularly I was a Friend and able to take advantage of the excellent value you (quite rightly) describe. Then commuting and kids came along, my trips to ROH dwindled to the point where I could no longer justify the expense, so I stopped being a Friend - with the result that it is almost impossible to get decent tickets which aren't "prohibitively expensive".

Restricting the good value tickets to those who are already keen opera goers does not seem to me to be a sensible way to build the audiences of the future or to support accessibility, and so far as I am aware ENO does not penalize the non-aficionado to the same extent.

[vinteuil]

Never mind London and Berlin - I'm more interested in the huge cultural gap between British provincial cities and European ones.

Where's the British equivalent of Deutsche Oper am Rhein?

... isn't this a consequence of the different histories of, say, Britain, Germany, and Italy over the last few hundred years?

London an established capital of a more-or-less united nation for a long time; Germany and Italy pre-1870 both mosaics of rival states / cities, each using Culture in their endless competition for Status, and hence a tradition of funding...



.

[jean]

... isn't this a consequence of the different histories of, say, Britain, Germany, and Italy over the last few hundred years?

Of course.

But we could be doing something to redress the balance, instead of (for example) throwing billions at a new concert hall for London.

Bradford is about to lose its national photographic collection to the V & A. Has anyone even noticed?

[vinteuil]

Bradford is about to lose its national photographic collection to the V & A. Has anyone even noticed?

... yes : Richd Morrison was pretty caustic - as he put it :

"Stop this London-centric nonsense - in nearly 40 years of reporting on the arts scene I have witnessed many lunacies, but the decision to move 400,000 historic photographs and photographic artefacts from the National Media Museum in Bradford to the V&A in London looks to be in the premier league of crassness. Apparently the move is intended to make the collection (which includes many of the oldest photographs in existence) more “accessible”. Well, yes it might do — to Londoners. What happened to the idea of creating a “northern powerhouse” to rival London? What happened to all those Arts Council pledges to adjust the huge cultural imbalance between London and the regions?"."

[Dave2002]

The London centric approach to planning anything is just terrible. I don't just mean arts, music, but also work, housing etc. Not enough funding goes to other parts of the country, which kind of self perpetuates the bonkers planning where too many people live in the South East, and then complain that it's getting overcrowded.

Re the ENO, the Magic Flute production is really good, and innovative - very different from the last one I saw there a few years ago, which I also enjoyed immensely. Perhaps some of the singing wasn't up to the standard of the previous production - or rather there were different strengths in the principal singers.

The Pamina who replaced Lucy Crowe sang beautifully, and was a worthy replacement for Lucy who has been unwell and unable to sing.

By booking Secret Seats we got in with rather good seats for £20 per ticket.

[MrGongGong]

Bradford is about to lose its national photographic collection to the V & A. Has anyone even noticed?

There have been lots of things about this on social media but sadly not in the national press/media.

and don't get me started on the effing vanity hall

[vinteuil]

There have been lots of things about this on social media but sadly not in the national press/media.

:

... doesn't The Times count? [ my #24 above ]

[MrGongGong]

... doesn't The Times count? [ my #24 above ]

Is that a newspaper?

Never heard of it

[Conchis]

... isn't this a consequence of the different histories of, say, Britain, Germany, and Italy over the last few hundred years?

London an established capital of a more-or-less united nation for a long time; Germany and Italy pre-1870 both mosaics of rival states / cities, each using Culture in their endless competition for Status, and hence a tradition of funding...



.

I think this under appreciated point might have a lot to do with it.

The 'Northern Powerhouse' idea is just a distraction - to keep people looking the other way while the regions are looted.

The late Michael Winner once opined that if enough people in the regions wanted 'cultural things', they would have them. But they don't, so they don't.

[Serial_Apologist]

The late Michael Winner said a lot of things...