Have they done any research, as they move opera from London to Manchester, into how many people in Manchester are interested in opera, as opposed to just Coronation Street and The Happy Mondays...?

www-bbc-co-uk.cdn.ampproject.org/v/s/www...%2F%2Fwww.google.com

You will always have centres of culture; trying to level it out across the regions will just dilute it and kill it off further.

However, I suspect "levelling up" the arts in Tory land is just a euphemism for cuts.

Yours grumpily, elitist-and-proud-of-it Surrey/London opera fan.

Opera is marmite, I have been to a few. You realise afterwords they are the same story with just different songs.

I found Carmen extremely overrated and Rigoletto was just surreal.

The Royal Opera House is absolutely shambolic these days. They send you etickets but have no way of scanning them, so they cause incredible delays while people try to find the emails so they can simply look at them. They don't check anyone's reason for wandering into the place before a performance, so you can just go and sit somewhere even if you've just come in on a whim. The ridiculous mixture of in-house restaurants now oblige concertgoers to stagger around rows of tables to get from one side to the other - it's just crazily amateurish.

The ENO has - will have had - a great venue, but it's infested with rats backstage and there's no proper space for rehearsals. They needed a boot up the bum, but not as much as the ROH does.

I don't know why Whitehall seems to think Manchester is where everything needs sending. The BBC news unit thrives on quick access to people in London - so it's now in Salford and has to rely on laptop cameras for most of their interviews. Ludicrous. the north has plenty of opera lovers but by moving ENO you're simply shifting the privilege rather than overcoming it.

As for the claim that all operas are 'just the same story' - in a sense you can claim all movies, plays, songs and novels are just variations on a small group of stories, but if you think La Boheme is the same story as Carmen, Die Zauberflöte and Aida, then you're just being silly.

Green Man wrote:
You realise afterwords they are the same story with just different songs.



GM same for every pop song ever written - but there are 3 or 4 stories.

Yes opera, like early Genesis = marmite!x

Wyot wrote:
Green Man wrote:
You realise afterwords they are the same story with just different songs.



GM same for every pop song ever written - but there are 3 or 4 stories.

Yes opera, like early Genesis = marmite!x

How very dare you. 😠 😡 👿 😤

Rick wrote:
The Royal Opera House is absolutely shambolic these days. They send you etickets but have no way of scanning them, so they cause incredible delays while people try to find the emails so they can simply look at them. They don't check anyone's reason for wandering into the place before a performance, so you can just go and sit somewhere even if you've just come in on a whim. The ridiculous mixture of in-house restaurants now oblige concertgoers to stagger around rows of tables to get from one side to the other - it's just crazily amateurish.

The ENO has - will have had - a great venue, but it's infested with rats backstage and there's no proper space for rehearsals. They needed a boot up the bum, but not as much as the ROH does.

I don't know why Whitehall seems to think Manchester is where everything needs sending. The BBC news unit thrives on quick access to people in London - so it's now in Salford and has to rely on laptop cameras for most of their interviews. Ludicrous. the north has plenty of opera lovers but by moving ENO you're simply shifting the privilege rather than overcoming it.

As for the claim that all operas are 'just the same story' - in a sense you can claim all movies, plays, songs and novels are just variations on a small group of stories, but if you think La Boheme is the same story as Carmen, Die Zauberflöte and Aida, then you're just being silly.

Just my opinion, I have never been a fan of films. I can't remember the last time I have stepped foot in a cinema or watched one on TV.

I remember when going to the theatre for opera or classical concert. There was a bit of a dress code, tickets were in hand and late arrivals were seen as a nuisance and they wait to to be seated. Normally after the first act was over.

My friend Jim-boy used to wind up late comers. He said "Have you travelled far?" If they said 'No' he say "I have what's your excuse?"

He use to travel cross-country to see his favourite bands. Please don't ever ask him about Doobie Brothers if you ever see him.

You will never hear the end of it.