Opera

Young people are more open to attending opera performances than their older peers, a research project has found.

A poll conducted by Public First for the Laidlaw Opera Trust found that 61% of 18- to 34-year-olds say they would consider going to an opera performance in the future. 

Meanwhile, 54% of 18- to 34-year-olds who have never been to the opera say they would like to go at least once in their lives, compared with 37% of those over 55.
 
The survey also revealed a gender divide. Given a choice as to what they would prefer a free ticket for, women are more likely to prefer the opera than a football match.
 
The survey also found that opera "struggles to cut" through, but the public is open to engaging with it - with 42% saying they have never met an opera fan and only around a third saying they have attended a performance. 

But even those who have never met an opera fan are open to engaging with the art form, with 41% of this group saying they would like to go to the opera at least once in their life.
 
Opera's perceived expense is the biggest barrier to attendance, with 50% of people saying that opera being expensive makes them feel more negative about it, which was the most important factor in driving negative perceptions. 
 
Lord Laidlaw, Chair of Laidlaw Opera Trust, said: “We commissioned this research because we believe that opera, as a uniquely thrilling art form, should reach a much wider audience. 

"It is an important starting point, therefore, to understand where  the real barriers to that ambition currently lie.”

Funding cuts are destroying Britain’s “top-notch” classical music organisations, according to the new chief conductor at the London Symphony Orchestra, Sir Antonio Pappano.

Speaking at the launch of LSO’s new season, Pappano said: “Do you want to see them die little by little? Look at the struggles, look at the ENO, the WNO. These places are in trouble, and it is not acceptable.”

He said that concerns around whether classical music was “specialist, elitist”, distracted organisations “when they should be concentrating on making good work and quality performances”.

Pappano also criticised Arts Council England, saying the funding body “did not seem to be supporting" classical music organisations and only held “discussions focused on community, diversity, and all those social aspects."

“It is not the LSO or Royal Philharmonic or London Philharmonic’s ­responsibility to educate children. It is the government’s job to start educating children and creating not only talent for the future but also audiences," said Pappano.

“The amount of responsibility given to organisations to correct something that should be done by the government is unfair, frankly.”

LSO, an ACE National Portfolio Organisation, has seen its annual investment from the funding body drop from £2,246,641 to £1,977,044. Pappano joins the orchestra from the Royal Opera House, which has seen its own annual investment from ACE - the largest grant awarded to any single organisation - fall from £25,211,186 to £22,268,584.

Several arts leaders representing Arts Council England (ACE) National Portfolio Organisations have faced criticism after The Guardian revealed they hold membership to the exclusive, all-male Garrick Club.

Alex Beard, the Chief Executive of the Royal Opera House, which receives ACE’s largest individual investment of over £22m per year, has been named a member, as has the Chair at English National Opera, Harry Brünjes, the Artistic Director of the Wigmore Hall, John Gilhooly, and the Chief Conductor of the London Symphony Orchestra, Antonio Pappano.

A spokesperson for Her Ensemble, an organisation that campaigns for equality in classical music, said the presence of many leading figures on the membership list “ultimately undermines a lot of the progress that the industry is making and encourages inequality.”

In a statement to The Guardian, ACE said, “Personal memberships of this kind are a matter for the individuals concerned”. 

ACE added that as a distributor of public money, “we make clear that we expect our investment to support cultural experiences and job opportunities to be available for everyone in England, irrespective of where they live, their background or how much money they have in their pocket”.

Jude Kelly, former Artistic Director of Southbank Centre and founder of the Women of the World Foundation, said senior figures in the arts should resign their membership.

“It behoves people who are leaders in the arts to not frequent it any longer. I don’t understand why anybody would think that it’s still OK to join a men-only members’ club,” she said.

The club, founded in 1831 as a meeting place for actors, previously held a formal vote on admitting women in 2015, with 50.5% supporting a rule change, failing to meet the required two-thirds majority. 

Garrick club members, including leading lawyers, the head of the civil service and King Charles, are expected to vote on the matter again in June.