The closure of the english national opera

[@piccalillipit9211]

*OPERA IS A PERFECTLY NORMAL WORKING CLASS PASSTIME* here in Bulgaria - every city has at least one opera house if not multiple... I was fortunate to live next to the outdoor opera house and listened to the performances every night. People would take their even meal on the grass in the park outside on a summer's evening and have the opera in the background. Making the arts the purview of the common man is one thing we have communism to thank for. [actually, we have a LOT to thank communism for here]

[@piccalillipit9211]

@Matt Quinn - Caledonian Television - Thats my point. Making it needlessly elite is what has killed it. Wealth is being concentrated in ever fewer hands and people hate everything associated with them. That included opera.Tonight its "Little Red Riding Hood - a Bellet for Children" at our opera house, Tickets £2.50 and its almost sold out Only boxes available at £8.50 a person.

[@nickbarton3191]

Sounds delightful. Here I enjoy the free week long jazz festival in Piata Guvernului each summer and many other events.

[@piccalillipit9211]

@@nickbarton3191 - Yes I miss living there - but I had a terrible con man as a landlord... He had ME pay for a lot of work that needed doing on the property and then got an eviction notice whilst I was in hospital.

[@nickbarton3191]

@@piccalillipit9211 did you live in blocul turneului ?

[@buntyjoy1800]

The arts are important in a civilized country.

[@denisehay8895]

We lost the arts at our peril because they are what make us human. Closing down the arts won't help disadvantaged or homeless people.

[@briancoates4745]

Absolutely disgusting, the Arts are a mainstay of our culture, Dorries shouldn’t be a peer

[@rocistone6570]

The question becomes How much are these vandals going to be permitted to desecrate under colour of authority? Stripped of culture and robbed of art and artistic expression, a people and a culture degrade into a tribal existence. Upon reflection, it becomes entirely plain that degradation is their goal, so that their brutality and small-minded behavior gradually become more and more acceptable and therefore easier to perpetrate. I say perpetrate because crimes against culture and history are just as much crimes as are purse snatching or robbery. Petty crimes embolden to greater crimes, until these vandals have destroyed every edifice upon which they can lay their soiled, poxy hands.

[@SteveChiverton]

In the 90's I worked at The Royal Albert Hall for a couple of years. I had been a typical kid from a Battersea Council Estate, brought up to believe that things like Classical Music, Opera and even Ballet were too 'high-brow' for the likes of me to ever understand. Or even attempt. They were 'for the 'rich knobs' with the big houses etc and were far too good for 'the likes of me'. Then I started working at the Royal Albert Hall. We obviously had The Proms season, then the Kirov Ballet came for a season, then various Opera companies came through. I fell in love and realised that the 'elitism' was an absolute lie. And it is. Since then I have gloried in Opera's, attended Glyndebourne, even been to see performances at the Met in New York. I started to arrange holidays to various cities to coincide with performances of Grand Opera's, Ballets, and Symphonies. And my life is far richer for it. Don't let anyone ever tell you that these things are 'elite' they are not. They are the greatest of musical expressions. And we should never close ourselves off to them. But sadly here in the UK is the ONLY place I find where working classes think you are above your station and the wealthy look down on you for it. It is OUR class system [and that from BOTH sides] that is out of kilter with our perception of an ART FORM here, NOT the music.

[@jantaylor7102]

Well welcome to the new UK quickly going down the toilet 🚽thank the Tories

[@GLOBALGLIMPSES]

I am fearful that the Arts are going to become one of the biggest casualties of future funding cuts. If all Ministries are forced to find cuts in their budgets, the DCMS will be hit hard. Film, TV, music and Theatre suffered so badly through closure during the pandemic, and now this. Even charital organisations like the Orpheus Centre, local to me in Bletchingly- doing outstanding work. This organisation works with/gives confidence to young disabled adults throught performing art. They will survive, but after the pandemic and now a recession... this has implications for the wider community. A good post- highlighting the challenges facing art and culture. Because in the end, these are what inspire us, through our lives.

[@call_in_sick]

Are going to become. They have been on their knees for years.

[@tonebonetones]

I'm not sure how to tell you this politely. But. You're out of touch with the reality that is broken Britain. The Arts are relevant only to the thinnest of thin wedges in the pie chart of our bulging population. To illustrate my point, take a genteel amble around Moss side in Manchester, or the west end in Newcastle, to give just two examples, and lament to those you meet of this arts funding catastrophe. Get back to me on your findings.

[@GLOBALGLIMPSES]

@@tonebonetones Thank you for your point and do fully understand what you are saying. Best wishes.

[@bendoone7557]

You must pay for your pleasures, people in care homes have to pay for their care

[@bendoone7557]

@@tonebonetones totally agree

[@catherinehall4862]

The same in Scotland ,Prof..They need rid of The Arts,for the new Agenda

[@inkaacrowe8429]

Exactly as part of the new world order agency. It’s going to fail but people can start to invest in their own entertainments, something to think about.

[@tombartram7384]

Gutting. Me and the lads on the building site used to have such lively debates about Figaro's interpretation of avant-garde culture whilst sipping Pims. Thank the LORD we still have our Shakespeare matinées.

[@mjc5509]

Love this Tom, ...some people get easily intimidated by culture..are you a policeman?

[@stevebartley8902]

Shocking.

[@johnnorth9355]

No longer able to sit through an opera I am still saddened by this news. That young people will be denied the opportunity of witnessing a full blown opera live in all it's glory is a loss to the arts that further cements the decline of perspective in our society. As was so eloquently said - you don't know what you have lost until it's gone.

[@bendoone7557]

Pay your way, problem solved

[@wormswithteeth]

It's sad news. Spare a though for Welsh National Opera as well. Many a good memory for me...

[@AnthonyWilliams-ew3wp]

And thus the Fall of Rome continues………

[@stephenle-surf9893]

Heartbreaking. I feel 😪 for you sir.

[@patriciah.1090]

This is a national disgrace, they should be ashamed. This country is a shambles. No other country in the world would allow this to happen without a fight.

[@chrisrichards7930]

Sir Humphrey Appleby would be appalled!

[@call_in_sick]

The culture vultures really will be gnawing on the bones of any and all creative institutions’ You don’t know what you have until it’s gone, is a very true sentiment. I give up on this country. As and when I can I will be leaving. I just wish it could be sooner.

[@danielintheantipodes6741]

Hopefully things will improve.

[@michaelgoode9555]

There are many many many very wealthy Tory donors who could quite easily step in and fund such cultural bodies but as usual there is a burden on the poor. Don't get me wrong, I want to see our genuine cultural assets maintained but I also want to see millions of starving people prioritised.

[@danielintheantipodes6741]

Hunter, Remedios and Bailey are turning in their graves. This is ghastly. R.I.P. ENO.

[@philodowd8080]

Outrageous The Lottery make millions

[@David_Jones8112]

In Family Guy Bryan called it "Idiot Tax".

[@flossyflue4305]

This is very sad, we loose another educational part of the community, I’m disgusted.

[@bendoone7557]

I am an Andre Rieu fan myself, so enjoyable.

[@PifflePrattle]

"I believe it was the ring cycle" I'm astonished there is any doubt. If my first experience of opera was the entire teutonic episode of the Archers as Andre Previn once described it, my recollection of the event would not be hazy. As for your final point - vandalism. Pure and simple.

[@dharmacharinipasadanandi7110]

What an interesting life you've lived.. Stay well, dear man :)

[@markstott6689]

It reminds me of an episode of Yes Prime Minister and Jim Hacker's threat to do the very same to the National Theatre. Only this time we have a Conservative Party who can't even conserve themselves.

[@kangaroo1888]

Maybe it becomes a mobile Opera with prices that attract the average person

[@georgekerr6123]

There would be more of a fuss if it was Wembley..!

[@uweinhamburg]

I remember some great jokes in 'Yes Minister' about the English national opera and it's relations to politics!

[@mrharry448]

The Royal Opera, I imagine. English National Opera has always been looked down on by Cultural Snobs in England.

[@uweinhamburg]

@@mrharry448 I think you are right - although i have watched most of the Yes Minister series several times i do not remember everything exactly..

[@andrewtongue7084]

Tim, it is as with everything the Conservatives touch - Health, Culture & the arts....the very fabric of the UK is being systematically deconstructed. Agreed, Dorries should be nowhere near a peerage - she has not earnt it - in fact, quite the opposite. Remember, there have been two Prime Ministers since his ousting, ergo, Johnson's recommendation to elevate her to the Lords should count for nothing - especially as both he & Truss have left office under a cloud, & in actuality, Sunak has no love for this irksome woman - she made it patently clear that she never supported him, & by dint of that fact, no reward should be forthcoming, especially as the investigation into her perfidy is (I believe) still ongoing....

[@andybrown4284]

Fair while ago I worked in a kitchen and during the day while prepping stuff would usually play a mix of rock, one of the other staff on site commented about the potential for inappropriate language being heard by kids so the next day I had cosi fan tutti playing instead. That sounds lovely I was told to which I replied yeah and you'd never guess its a story about wife swapping and infidelity because of a bet. Opera (and classical in general) is often seen as not being something for the masses, a view I think that mainly comes from not being given any real exposure in schools despite it's importance to the history of music. Musicals might not exist if it weren't for opera, there's a ton of pop&rock songs that borrow heavily from classical and without opera italia 90 wouldn't have had a theme song still remembered by footie fans. To oversee the demise of a national institution while acting as the secretary that should be protecting them and helping build them up is diabolical.

[@SMX815]

The arts council have dropped a clanger as everyone loves opera & all the great performances of yesteryear!

[@R0swell5104]

No not everyone loves opera, many don't. Having said that I certainly do not agree with removing funding for whatever reason.

[@naysmith5272]

@@R0swell5104 well said.

[@martinscannall8487]

I am ashamed to be a Tory. They have totally lost the plot. Where is decency, compassion, nobility. Something dreadful has happened.

[@121evans]

Visi d’arte. Visi d’ amore.

[@mjc5509]

The problem with ENO is its not one thing or the other..Many Britten operas work well but Wagner etc in my opinion sung in English just dosnt gel.. The recent production of DIE WALKURE was a shambles, and BERG WOZZECK AND LULU sung in English are best forgotten

[@DanielleKingdjdinosaur]

I am not an Opera fan but this is not a good thing .Culture of all kinds needs to be supported.We are seeing a slash and burn government at all levels and in all sectors.This is bad

[@naysmith5272]

Agree with supporting culture. like other people have said, what actually are these cuts saving here in the long run.

[@shelleylyme6402]

1:25 Yes, I was waiting to see how long it would take for the personal spite against Nadine Dorries to kick in . . . . . and I wasn't disappointed at around eighty-six seconds! 🤗

[@SonOfViking]

Any factual reference to Dorries can easily be confused with "personal spite" - the latter enthusiastically identifies an individual's worst faults while Dorries as an individual equally enthusiastically displays such faults at every turn.

[@michaelgoode9555]

Facts are not spite. Any hatred felt towards Dorries or any Tory by anybody is entirely due to their behaviour for the past decade or so and is thus self-inflicted. If you are an unpleasant person then you cannot expect universal adulation.

[@seedhillbruisermusic7939]

hey Prof. I've only seen 2 live opera performances. The first being Wagner's Tristan and Isolde which I'm sorry to say I found the most boring 3 hours I've ever sat through and I hated it, the 2nd being the modern opera Anna Nicole which I thoroughly loved and bought on DVD so I could watch it whenever I wanted. Since then I've watched a lot of opera on youtube and I mostly love it. Just recently watched Mme Butterfly and I was in tears! Also love Janacek's The Cunning Little Vixen. I like more opera than I dislike, it's an important artform and should be supported and promoted instead of being seen as an exclusively posh persons only thing. But alas it's become so rarified and hated by the masses as being beyond them, when in fact it's for everyone. Shame.

[@godehardbrysch7905]

Good morning Sedhill, greetings from Germany. Wagner is great, but I can agree, though my friends adore Tristan and Isolde it does not say anything to me. In 2012 the BBC has published a magazine( BBC music magazine): "50 great works to build your classical music CD Library". Tristan and Isolde is included but as a surprise for me "Hänsel und Gretel" is recommended. (Watch "Brüderchen komm tanz mit mir, with Guberova and Fassbaender on YT). Most operas need preparation, You Tube and DVDs are magnificent but they cannot serve as substitude for a live performance. Even those who do not like that genre are fascinated by "The Magic Flute." In the area where I live I can be very happy, opera houses in: Cologne, Düsseldorf, Essen, Bonn, Wuppertal, Aachen, Gelsenkirchen, Münster. As you've mentioned Madame Butterfly, I once saw a performance in Wuppertal. Madame Butterfly was absolutely beautiful, long black hair, wearing a white dress and then she stabbed herself, the dress nearly completely was full of blood. This was heartbreaking. Wish you all the best.

[@lucywillis4535]

THIS is culture wars too.....

[@alisdairmclean8605]

Well there is always reality tv to watch, and have you thought about bingo?

[@sarahperks8226]

Hello lovely Tim 😊 it's all to take away any real culture or pleasure 💖

[@olegfedorov3225]

As already mentioned in comments here, this is eerie incarnation of YM/YPM. 30 years past but arguments and complains about English national opera are exactly the same, almost word by word. What is stunningly brilliant show it was !!

[@terrym3837]

I have seen just one performance at the coliseum Ultravox splendid it was

[@215Gallagher]

With defence expenditure expected to double by 2030 to £100bn money can't be squandered on fripperies like the arts? Sontar ha!

[@paperandtwine]

I saw Der Rose and Cavalier (forgive the spelling) at ENO many decades ago. We have a lot in common, Prof. I directed zFido and Aneas many moonscaho

[@nickbarton3191]

Seems a shame, not that I've ever been. Not my cup of tea.

[@stuartgraca]

Tim I painted the set , was the almost all black one with large globes ? I think was Ralph Coulter ? My memory is now fading so I am not 0:48 sure . I remember using a black rubber type of material for almost everything . I painted sets for tge ENO through out the 70,s but even then they were cutting back a lot and cancelled complete shows .

[@mossychops]

616, Babylonian Debt Slavery and the Order of Assassins?

[@nbamford03]

National? Never seen them up my neck of the woods - but then again I'm North of Birmingham so maybe that explains it...

[@piccalillipit9211]

*OPERA IS A PERFECTLY NORMAL WORKING CLASS PASSTIME* here in Bulgaria - every city has at least one opera house if not multiple... I was fortunate to live next to the outdoor opera house and listened to the performances every night. People would take their even meal on the grass in the park outside on a summer's evening and have the opera in the background. Making the arts the purview of the common man is one thing we have communism to thank for. [actually, we have a LOT to thank communism for here]

[@piccalillipit9211]

@Matt Quinn - Caledonian Television - "The Caledonian Television Company™ is still owned and run by its founder, Matt Quinn; an ITV-trained cameraman - and former Lecturer in Television ..." I say this with total sincerity and your best interests at heart. *DONT USE YOUR REAL MANE AND PROFESSION ON KZbin IF YOU ARE GOING TO ANNOY PEOPLE* I used to do that, I'm an author, I'm an author who sells 60% fewer books than I used to because I angered a nut job on YT comments and he got his fellow nut jobs to leave malicious negative reviews on all my books... I got them removed but the damage is everlasting. You WILL run across a nut job who dedicated their life to destroying yours, just because you hurt their feelings.

[@piccalillipit9211]

@Matt Quinn - Caledonian Television - Cant see how any of that is going to help is 2000 Q-Anon followers in America decide to target you, but its your life and Im not going to tell you how to live it... Just trying to be helpful.

[@piccalillipit9211]

@Matt Quinn - Caledonian Television - Turns out you're the f-king nut job. NO I'm trying to be helpful you f-king nut job. Goodbye - nut job. BTW - typical ex-copper - you try to be nice and they turn around and accuse you. Nasty f-ukers all of them.

[@ftumschk]

@Matt Quinn - Caledonian Television Speaking as one of the great unwashed myself - grew up on a council estate to a mining and steelworking family - I've never found opera exclusive nor elitist.

[@finlayfraser9952]

Professor Tim Dorries' appointment was in line with your Chum Boris' cronyism, and wholesale abandonment of standards in public life. You can't have you cake and eat it I'm afraid, so don't complain!

[@mossychops]

Can we afford a National Lottery?

[@mossychops]

Cabalism?

[@mossychops]

@Matt Quinn - Caledonian Television Tax on Dreams.

[@RB-wl7ct]

I feel so sad that I cant afford to travel from the north to pay London prices to watch opera. Luckily us peasants up here cant appreciate that kind of high faluting stuff anyways. T interferes wi t whippet racing calendar which incidentally is now receiving massive art council grants since we decorated dogs wi t owd Lowry prints. Champion aye.

[@mrharry448]

Er. Go to Opera North you numpty.

[@mrharry448]

As a Londoner living in a city of 9million people as opposed to the 400,000 or less in Manchester, I am going to miss ENO being here. The Royal Opera that is left. has only been providing fare for Russian oligarchs and corporate sponsors for decades. ENO provides work exclusively 'in english' meaning regular revivals of Britten, the greatest 20th Century UK artist outside of pop music. London is becoming an artistic wasteland, not helped by a succession of mayors who have no vision for cultural status. ( we all miss Ken Livingstone and wish he had not become such a loopy anti-semite) This is another marker of decline for the UK in global competitiveness. To those who go on about how feeding their kids is the highest aspiration a citizen can have in their lives, then I suggest your aspirations are too bloody low. The UK needs to nurture EXCELLENCE or it is dead and so are your children BTW my father was a private secretary to Denis Healey and he was very clear that the main reason for the UK joining the EU in 1972 was Heath and his 'elitist' friends wanting to make it easier for them to get to the great Opera houses in Europe. The rest of the argument they couldn't give a toss about.

[@martindewhurst2485]

There are £2.7m people in the greater Manchester area, and the cities of Liverpool, Leeds and Sheffield are not far (although transport between some of these area is, as you may be aware, woefully under-funded and inadequate). Feeding children is not the aspiration of the poor, just a necessity they can’t afford. Their aspirations tend to get parked when disposable income and, or the sort of subsidised initiatives the south benefits from, aren’t available to them. You’ve stated that your father was successful, you should have more empathy for those who didn’t have such an advantage.

[@stevec700]

I'm sorry Tim, but the average person couldn't care less about opera. It's more about how am I going to feed my kids, not how am I going to get opera tickets.

[@EricIrl]

What's "an average person"?. Don't you really mean to say "I couldn't care less about opera"?

[@stevec700]

@@EricIrl This may come as a surprise, but most people don't care about opera or the arts. They care about their jobs, heating their homes and feeding their kids, Why don't you discuss thus at your next dinner party.

[@EricIrl]

@@stevec700 That’s why FAR more government money goes to those basic aspects of society than to the arts - and quite rightly too.

[@elterrifico9522]

As an opera fan who has frequently attended The Met in NYC I can say that opera should be the first thing to go in tough times. The likes of Tim can put an old Caruso album on his victrola and wait for better days.

[@EricIrl]

@@elterrifico9522 How much will be saved?

[@elterrifico9522]

You were ‘terribly young’ in the 70s? I think not.

[@johngrant5448]

Opera isn't on the radar of the majority of the people, it is only going to be a loss to the chattering classes. This is likely to be the only loss that the rich are likely to experience and it is a tiny loss compared to the vast suffering endured by the serfs.

[@ftumschk]

I'm not rich by any means, but I've enjoyed ENO's productions at the Coliseum ever since I was a student in London in the 1980s. If memory serves, the cheapest seats back then only cost a fiver and you could get a "standing ticket" at the rear of the Upper Circle or Balcony for two quid.

[@markscott2908]

Heathens 😂

[@stewartwallwork6505]

I may be wrong but opera seems to me elitist enjoyed by a very small proportion of our population.

[@ProfessorTimWilson]

but this is the point- the influence of opera is enormous. It is the backbone of popular entertainment and is the source of the film soundtrack and actually much more. Just as we cherish a stream which may be unrecognised as the source of the bigger river, so too we must cherish the sources of our popular culture. If we cut off the stream, eventually, the river that depends on it will dry up.

[@ftumschk]

@Matt Quinn - Caledonian Television Around 1.5 million people per year attended English National Opera and Ballet performances at the Coliseum (pre-COVID figures).

[@themccarthyplan2020]

more money for afro islam trans rap

[@greatjob7113]

Oh dear no more pretentious wailing!