A Poisoned Chalice?
There is a traditional form of opera where people pay a lot of money - and the taxpayer pays even more - to hear big, fat voices emanating from big, fat people in old crumbly sets. That is of no interest to me nor to most of the people who come to the opera.
NICHOLAS HYTNER. opera producer
How will the new regime at the Royal Opera House, led by Jeremy Isaacs and Bernard Haitink. adapt to a new artistic climate? How will they change the image of the institution and confound its critics? And how will they secure the financial freedom to promote this most extravagant of art forms?
Omnibus examines the state of Britain's operatic health, and compares it with that in the United States and France. Are the attractions of private sponsorship and huge state funding as treacherous a remedy as the traditional poisoned chalice?
Researcher CASSIE BRABAN
Executive producer DENNIS MARKS Director KEVIN LOADER