First English, then Welsh. Now Dutch opera faces the chop
OperaOpera Zuid, the opera of southern Netherlands, has posted a petition that appeals for public signatures to secure its survival.
The Dutch parliament is expected to cut its funding next week, a decision that the company warns will lead to rapid bankruptcy.
The conductor Antony Hermus writes:
Opera Zuid holds a very special place in my heart. My first opportunity to conduct an opera in the Netherlands came with them in 2009, with Rimsky Korsakov “Tsar Saltan”, in a regie by Sybrand van der Werf. This experience played an essential role in my own journey as a conductor, just as it has for countless Dutch singers, conductors, and artists who found their first footing with this company.
Now, with their funding drastically cut, the very existence of Opera Zuid is in jeopardy. This decision is not only disheartening, but it risks erasing a vital path for new talent and a key piece of cultural life in the south of the Netherlands. Our country’s opera landscape is already sparse; preserving Opera Zuid is more essential than ever.
I deeply hope that a solution will be found so that Opera Zuid can continue inspiring audiences and nurturing artists for generations to come. We need to safeguard our cultural institutions, as they shape not only careers but communities and the artistic future of our country.
Sign here.
But of course. The new government in the Very Low Countries is rightwing populist, and any cultural institution is considered a mere hobby for the rich elites.
There is one obvious solution which everyone shies away from: a merger between Opera Zuid and Nationale Reisopera. This really should have happened ages ago but proves to be politically impossible.
Wouldn’t a merger mean that half the jobs would go?
Probably. Half the jobs will also go if one of the companies goes bankrupt instead.
The petition is NOT by Opera Zuid itself! All the action you see in the media and on social media sp far has been by singers, composers, directors etc. that are appalled by the decision and want to fight for the company that has brought them and the public so many great productions!!
I would give them money to tell me what’s the sexy artwork in the photo.
Since the departure of Miranda van Kralingen, the reputation of Opera Zuid has dropped. During her “reign”, high-quality Dutch singers were offered roles and the programming was interesting. The current Opera Zuid has lost it. There is opera talent in the Netherlands, but the company team has not the faintest idea who they are.
Woke, diversity and inclusivity are the key words in the opera landscape. This makes the programming pathetic. For example, the Reisopera wants to look at ‘Don Giovanni’ with a queer perspective and will be looking for the African roots in ‘Carmen’. A ‘Le Villi’ at Opera Zuid is a good initiative, but why with a newly written prologue by a young female composer? At the premiere of De National Opera in Amsterdam you will only see the left-wing select. Yes, that is why more and more the “right-wing populists consider it a mere hobby for the left-wing, rich elites”. Regular operalovers do not go to the opera for this bullshit anymore.
Since Covid woke, diversity and inclusivity have become the most important criteria at all three companies in the Netherlands. The Council for Culture’s criticism of Opera Zuid was that the company has to further develop, strengthen and apply its vision on the Diversity & Inclusion Code with regard to the public. Higher powers determine the policy and it will be the end of opera in the Netherlands.
To get the state subsidies, institutions have to tick the right boxes. So, they are forced to comply to the state directives to survive. And when the government turns extreme-rightwing, institutions get the message they better fold anyway. So, it’s always wrong what institutions would do.