A heldentenor blasts his country’s failing opera
NewsOne third of the board of New Zealand Opera have resigned, claiming a ‘huge swelling of discontent and confusion about the artistic direction of the company’.
The problem seems to be too much focus on politically corret policy and too little on the needs of arts and artists.
Now, international tenor Simon O’Neill has spoken out about the calamitous situation:
… I believe that New Zealanders are generous in their support of opera because of the large numbers of international-level opera singers that we produce. We punch above our weight on the international opera stage because of our singers, and that isn’t by chance either – it is because of our incredible school choirs, youth choirs, and opera choruses. We grow great opera singers here!
People also say opera is elite. I’m the son of an Ashburton freezing worker and primary school teacher, who mortgaged the family home so I could continue my studies in New York. “Elite” is not a word I heard too much growing up and so I’ve looked it up. It means “a select group that is superior in terms of ability to the rest of a group or society”. Then yes, our opera singers are elite – just like our yachties, our filmmakers, our golfers, our rugby players, and just like our Olympic athletes.
Read on here….
Let’s hear it now from Kiri.
I’ve finally learnt the lesson that one must always read the full article to which the item is linked. Where the blurb reads, in part, “The problem seems to be too much focus on politically corret [sic] policy and too little on the needs of arts and artists,” it turns out that the problem is too much money wasted on administration and too little on the needs of arts and artists.
Brilliant stuff, Simon. Happily we can rely on the Antipodes to tell it like it is. The Kiwis and Aussies have still not lost the honesty and get-up-and-go that pampered Europe considers beneath it.
Sadly, he betrays a seemingly good cause with egotistical comments such as: “I’ve yet to see full transparency on the issue despite my persistent questioning.”
So a government agency should do whatever he says because he’s a heldentenor? Elitist indeed.
Correct. Not Corret