Sir, – We are writing to you to express our concern for opera in Ireland. Like all art forms, opera has suffered in recent years but few other areas have been quite so profoundly decimated. The body that should be supporting and nurturing opera, the Arts Council, has displayed a remarkable indifference to opera’s long-term development, seemingly happy to fund it on a piecemeal basis.
Dublin is unique as a capital city in Europe not to have an opera house or an opera company.
Despite this, we have a huge range of operatic talents, many of whom have carved out significant careers internationally. In current or recent seasons, Irish singers have featured in such prestigious venues as the Royal Opera House, London; La Scala in Milan; the Metropolitan Opera in New York; the Bavarian State Opera; the Vienna State Opera; the Hamburg State Opera; the English National Opera; Opera Frankfurt; the Glyndbourne Festival; the Salzburg Festival; the Welsh National Opera; the Scottish Opera; the Washington National Opera; the Los Angeles Opera, and many more.
Yet while we have a dynamic generation of Irish singers performing to audiences in London, Milan, New York and elsewhere, it is particularly regrettable that these artists are not regularly heard at home, as there is no obvious avenue for Irish singers to work in their native country and no regular supply of core opera repertoire in the capital.
Irish audiences deserve to hear great works of opera performed by Irish artists, singers, directors, designers, conductors, etc.
Provision of full-scale opera in Dublin is particularly problematic. In 2016 a number of Irish singers featured in Wide Open Opera's The Barber of Seville and Opera Theatre Company's Don Giovanni. Both were outstanding productions demonstrating what is possible. But since 2010 main-scale opera in Dublin has been patchy or non-existent.
In 2015, for example, no core-repertoire full-scale operas in Dublin were supported by the Arts Council.
We welcome the Government’s recent increased allocation of funding to the Arts Council for 2017, and we call on the council to increase funding to opera so that Irish audiences can have unrivalled operatic experiences on a par with or surpassing those that are heard internationally. We are ready to do our part to realise this vision. – Yours, etc,
GAVAN RING,
Baritone,
Cahersiveen, Co Kerry;
ORLA BOYLAN,
Soprano,
Dublin;
CLAUDIA BOYLE,
Soprano,
Dublin;
CELINE BYRNE,
Soprano,
Kildare;
SHARON CARTY,
Mezzo-soprano,
Frankfurt;
ANNA DEVIN,
Soprano,
London;
TARA ERRAUGHT,
Mezzo-soprano,
Munich;
MÁIRE FLAVIN,
Soprano,
West Sussex;
DEAN POWER,
Tenor,
Munich;
AILISH TYNAN,
Soprano,
London;
PADRAIC ROWAN,
Bass-baritone,
Stuttgart.
Sir, – Let me echo the observations of John Swift (October 18th) pertaining to the neglect of Irish-made opera and his exhortation of the Arts Council to ensure that meaningful employment for Irish opera singers moves to the top of its priority list.
We have world-class opera talent, both women and men, who are acknowledged as such by world opera-goers, working in "exile". I will forever recall attending one of the world's great opera houses, the Staatsoper in Vienna, in early 2013 and witnessing Tara Erraught hold a very sophisticated and discerning audience in the palm of her hand as she sang the title role in Rossini's La Cenerentola (Cinderella).
It is unforgivable that the Irish public cannot, with any regularity or predictability, have the opportunity to hear and appreciate such outstanding Irish talent. – Yours, etc,
MICHAEL GANNON,
Kilkenny.