Sarah Connolly: There are no friends of opera at the Arts Council
OperaThe leading English mezzo-soprano has a blast at the funding authority in the Daily Telegraph:
‘I get the sense that there are no real friends of opera on the Arts Council. The way they have behaved is atrocious.
‘You need grand opera. It’s not just about singing in office blocks. And London, the most culturally extraordinary city in Europe, needs two opera houses, one of which performs in English.
‘Without the ENO, there is nowhere for emerging British singers to go. Young singers don’t tend to jump from the Glyndebourne chorus to the Royal Opera House, for instance. The ENO provides a vital platform, where English singers learn to become international stars.’
Read on here.
‘London, the most culturally extraordinary city in Europe’
Where do people get this rubbish from? Since when was culture a competition with rankings? I can’t stand people who feel the need to make these unprovable nonsense claims of things being the bestest – there’s no need, saying it’s excellent is enough.
Thinking and saying they are the best in anything is part of the British DNA. You can find them constantly writing about their “world leading performing arts”, “best universities”, etc…
I think they truly and naively think that. Take for example the latest self-perception rank about corruption. The UK sees itself in the top-12 of countries with less corruption while in many of the countries that they considered “more corrupted” the chief of the BBC or the chairman of the Conservative party would have been not breaking some ministerial code or boy scouts book… they would have been breaching some serious laws, being prosecuted and probably in jail.
Thought it was Americans who always bragged, not the understated Brits?
and let’s not forget the promised ‘ world beating test and trace programme ‘ . Hollow words from the uniquely egregious prime minister of the time.
Lest there be any perception of conflation : Sarah Connolly is a lovely person.
Yes, I’ve always thought the same thing. I’m betting the comment is all about equity, diversity and inclusion. Those three horsemen of the apocalypse. Shallow and silly.
For many, life is a competition. Only at the end do they realize they forgot to live. Just do your best and enjoy.
Absolute rubbish anon as per usual from you. Sarah Connolly ( a wonderful artist & sensitive human being btw) is not bragging about London’s cultural supremacy per say. She’s merely making the completely accurate point that talented young singers have nowhere or at least very limited opportunities to sing owing to the UK Arts Council’s philistinism.
Another London centric perspective that those of us not blessed to be able to afford the benefits of ‘ the most culturally….’, sorry but I can’t finish repeating this claptrap, have to put up with all the time. Let Dame Sarah have her London. Let London have ENO. Meanwhile the rest of us will be content to make do with what we have. Which is far less than ROH and ENO will get when ACE bow to the inevitable and restore the grant that has so exercised those within the St Martin’s Lane/Floral St golden triangle.
It is the capital city, not Blackpool!
The younger generation of artists are not surrounded by a sympathetic younger generation of non-artists, whatever that means. The expansion of arts education as means of tax breaks and feel good service has also contributed by providing unequipped teachers and shallow understandings of the craft to become the entryway gatekeepers, which I imagine can contribute to more shallow patronage. I think that, over time, something has widened this divide and diluted the potency of the arts, among others areas.
No doubt the high achievers who have been able to manage the evolution of social media are becoming as pristine as ever.
Impactful art speaks for itself and the foundations for nurturing young talent with a keen eye for the longer trajectory must be preserved.
Did anyone else spot the fatal flaw in Sarah Connolly’s otherwise fascinating, insightful and heartfelt article? She says, “London … needs two opera houses, one of which performs in English”. Delete the last six words and I agree entirely. It’s time for ENO to slaughter the sacred cow.
ENO already provides English surtitles, which inexorably draw the eyes of many opera-goers – so why not let the singers perform the work as the composer intended? Any loss of comprehensibility would surely be negligible.
Also, if ENO performed in the original languages, wouldn’t that make it easier for emerging British singers to develop their international careers?
Moreover, I know many opera fans who rarely if ever attend ENO because they are accustomed to hearing authentic performances, and find the English translations jarring (especially when they are as inept as John Deathridge’s new version of The Ring).
Finally, what makes London’s second opera house different from those in other major cities? This season, the Komische Oper in Berlin is performing Così fan Tutte – in Italian. Likewise La traviata at the Vienna Volksoper. Even the Opéra Comique in Paris, which admittedly mainly performs French works in French, is staging Breaking the Waves – in English.
Recently, someone crassly said, “the clue is in the name – it’s ENGLISH National Opera”. Oh yeah, that’s why WNO sings everything in Welsh, innit?
I absolutely agree.
As a singer, young or otherwise, you want to sing the role into your voice as originally written, given that you will never sing it again in English. Imagine having to learn the Ring twice over! Whatever the opera, it presents an unjustifiable amount of work, especially for a company that pays such poor fees, fees that absolutely do not reward the time spent learning the role.
The work does not only involve memorising text, but working on a very different – and potentially harmful – vocal musculature arising from the change of language. And for what? There is zero upside, given the challenges of being understood in the Coliseum, anyway. Legato, in most repertoire composed before the 20th century (hyper-elongated vowels, long phrases, etc.), is key to the opera singer’s technique and style, but doesn’t lend itself to word-by-word clarity in large spaces. Translated surtitles are the answer.
ENO should develop a proper UK opera ‘troupe’, including a robust and highly competitive young artists’ program to compete with the best in Europe. English as the original language should be a focus (but not the only focus), including a revival of the great American opera / musical tradition, as sung by the likes of Pinza and, latterly, Sir Bryn. It is fantastic training for the voice, and for the art of communication, and good for the company balance sheet.
Oh please hush up already about ENO. Face facts: ENO at the London Coliseum remains half empty more often than not. Musicals sell the venue much better. ENO had the chance to change ten years ago and failed and failed again under Harry Brunjes, Cressida Pollack and now this Murphy idiot. We have the ROH and enough country-house operas for the entire industry. Stop blaming the ACE for facing reality about the dwindling opera audiences in the UK. Opera is a niche art form. Musicals are the new opera, like it or not: and Netflix is the new musical. Art evolves with Time: let’s focus on what we DO have and make that work for the best. ENO’s recent second embarrassing installment of The Ring only shows how out of touch this opera house is with great modern opera. Time for a new generation and new vision of opera to grow: Nick Serota is ensuring that happens. Just stop with your entitled whining. The UK has plenty of opera houses. The world is economy is at war; Covid changed audiences perhaps forever; Brexit as well; stop clinging to the past and trust that ENO will evolve into something new and relevant again. But change must happen.
It’s not half-empty – or half-full – when I am there. I travel down quite regularly from Leeds, and will be seeing Die Tote Stadt in April in English. I love opera in English and not ashamed of saying it as a member of a mostly English speaking audience and someone who had a career as a singer herself and someone who has four languages but not learnt as a child. So my languages are always second, third and fourth, not bilingual. There isn’t the room for all singers in music colleges to have these so-called international star-studded careers that people talk about or aspire to. There is the middle career and they enable people to stay at home if they so wish in an opera company to find their feet. The problem lies in the fact that there isn’t any British opera much from Purcell to Britten, except Gilbert & Sullivan operetta. It is the language of the audience just like Italian was for those who first heard Verdi, and German for those who heard Wagner. I had no problem hearing Peter Grimes in German when I was there some years ago in Germany – the language of the audience. I used to take groups to opera when I lived in London, and I know that those I took would never have had the money to get into ROH, and secondly a language other than their own, and they would have not gone – many of whom were going for the first time, and not the last time. There is room in London for both opera houses, and those who don’t like opera in English quite frankly don’t have to go. They can go to the Royal Opera House and hear everything in the original language. But the translations are always quite innovative and often colloquial, not a singing translation as I saw at the Chicago Lyric last week, or a word for word. Seems to me many on here have it in for Dame Sarah Connolly. I have worked with her. She is a fine woman and a fine singer, but no one has to agree with her and no one needs to be rude to her either. She has spoken up several times on behalf of the next generation of singers. Well said, Dame Sarah.
Nice one, Una. I remember meeting you in Northenden Road, Manchester. I don’t suppose you’re still there?
I’ve commented before that the problem lies squarely with one individual: Arts Council England’s ignorant and uncultured Director of Music Claire Mera-Nelson, who is on public record as being hell-bent on a mission to defund larger organisations which actually employ their artists. This ghastly woman is destroying livelihoods and dismantling the institutions which lie at the heart of our country’s cultural infrastructure. She needs to be removed from office immediately.
Great comment. Get to the nitty-gritty. No-one else does these days, and it’s something that made the Brits remarkable.
Three cheers for Sarah and none for Nadine.
As an active opera singer I thoroughly enjoyed reading the comment section. Seems like some common sense prevails in the public. ENO does a terrible job, underpays their artists, underinvests in their product and keeps on failing to create value (remember the oh so many failed productions?) for over a decade while whingeing and complaining about their fantastic venue and expecting the govt to bail them time and time again. It has to be burnt down for a better company to raise from the ashes. I suggest we name it Phoenix Opera!
To my great surprise nobody mentions the terrible job the board of ENO (and infact any UK opera board) is doing. A bunch of incompetent amateurs pretending
they know what’s a lyric theatre, how to manage it and communicate with the audiences. Why is no-one suggesting that they should be the one and only group that is responsible for driving that previously glorious company to the grounds (just like the Scottish Opera)? They need to be publicly shamed and the system of opera boards needs to evaluated asap. Absolutely every UK opera board is incompetent, have not insight into the jobs of the artists and the company staff thus resulting in hiring and overhiring utterly incompetent artistic leaders to their companies. There is absolutely no hint of meritocracy in any of their decisions (ENO!!!), no artistic representation and no skills to work with the audiences. In a city where the Royal Ballet and any musicals sell out, the ENO has no right to complain that they are not the problem.
Norman, what about proper investigation into the boards?
Nadine (who?) – last year’s model. We’re on number 12 now
FWIW Sir Nicholas Serota, head of the Arts Council England, is not personally anti-opera, as he was sitting next to my mother at “Tannhauser”.
That’s enough to turn anyone off opera! (Tannhauser, not your mother…)
Wonder who paid for his seat at Covent Garden????
So why doesn’t he use his clout? Opera is hugely popular in England among those who are interested. There is no reason to dismiss this art form as ‘elitist’ (whatever that means, when tickets to watch a talentless ‘rapper’ far exceed the possibility to experience a Tristan, Turandot or Aida).
If we lose ENO then the North will have 2 affordable opera companies. In the South we will only have places that I cannot afford. How is that levelling up ?