THE English National Opera is a strange beast. On one level, it is the second opera house to glitzy Covent Garden, where the musical cognoscenti, wealthy, and government ministers hover to ensure a credible mix of high culture and intentions in (a few) cheap seats. English National Opera has more overtly democratic credentials — opera sung in English has been its USP — a hangover from the days when surtitling technology was basic and audiences less accustomed to relishing Netflix foreign drama with translations.
As long as I have attended and written about the grand old Coliseum in St Martin’s Lane, the “Coli” has been both the glory and curse of the ENO: so huge as to be unfillable for novel works and latterly reliant on risky deals with musicals, which often don’t work well in a space that is better for opera and sporadic seasons of ballet.
Funding squeezes have long been at its throat and now threaten strangulation. A defence by the Arts Council chief executive Darren Henley notes that the main arts funding body “declined to offer ENO a place in its next national portfolio of funded organisations. Instead, we proposed a package for it to relocate and reimagine itself outside London.”
Bu hikaye Evening Standard dergisinin November 15, 2022 sayısından alınmıştır.
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Bu hikaye Evening Standard dergisinin November 15, 2022 sayısından alınmıştır.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber? Giriş Yap
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