Sir, – Having read Michael Dervan’s excellent article (October 11th), I would like to point out that the article’s headline is misleading. To suggest that “the curtain is being brought down on opera in Ireland” is simply not true.
Lyric Opera Productions, for the most part, has existed without any public funding, generating many Irish jobs for our professional singers. Our current production, Il Trovatoreat the National Concert Hall, boasts the following statistics: 70 per cent of the principal singers – Irish, 100 per cent of Lyric Opera's Chorus – Irish. The Lyric Opera Orchestra and production team is 100 per cent Irish and professional – criteria which should be valid to the Arts Council's recent investigations.
Again, it is a pity that Mr Dervan doesn’t see fit to incorporate this hardworking, truly indigenous opera company in his discussions of this genre of art, an art-form which has been shamefully treated over the last number of years. – Yours, etc,
A chara, – I was shocked to read the article by Michael Dervan regarding opera in Ireland. I had been under the impression that the process of setting up a new opera company, bringing together the work of Opera Ireland and the Opera Theatre Company was well under way and I was looking forward to a new opera season in 2012. It would be a shame if Ireland no longer had a National Opera Company which would support Irish artists and delight Irish audiences. I was disappointed to read Mr Dervan’s account of the role of the Arts Council in relation to opera.
I hope the Arts Council will find a way to ensure that Irish opera continues. In my view we should have a national opera company based in the capital. – Is mise,