Notes on a new opera company

ARTSCAPE:ONE OF THE parting shots of Martin Cullen as arts minister was the appointment of an interim board to the new Irish National Opera company. That was in March, and although the board, which is chaired by Ray Bates, former head of the National Lottery, has met, it hasn't yet made any public statements, writes Michael Dervan. A number of crucial decisions have been taken, however. Bates, who is hoping the board will begin key recruitment this month, was also able to reveal that it will be autumn 2011 before the first production from the new company will be seen.

The board are not the only people bringing their energies to bear on the creation of a new era for opera in Ireland. The Department of Culture and the Arts Council have jointly recruited two consultants.

Bjørn Simensen, former manager of Norway’s national opera company, Den Norske Opera, saw that company through its move to Norway’s €500 million opera house in Oslo in 2008. Rudolf Berger, a partner in the Viennese music consultancy Overtones, has been general director of Vienna Chamber Opera and Volksoper, as well as Opéra National du Rhin, in Strasbourg.

The new company's 2011 start date leaves the field clear for Opera Ireland (whose functions, with those of Opera Theatre Company, are to be subsumed into the new company) to proceed with its production of Puccini's Toscalater this year. And it opens the way for the company to negotiate with the Arts Council for funding for a spring season next year. Opera Theatre Company has a tour of Grigory Frid's The Diary of Anne Frankscheduled for September and October, and the company is also interested in continuing to tour in 2011 before Irish National Opera comes on stream.

The new national company was discussed in the Dáil on April 7th, through questions tabled by Dan Neville and Willie Penrose, with further issues raised by Olivia Mitchell. Culture Minister Mary Hanafin was vague about the resourcing of the new company. “Funding for 2011,” she said, “will have to be agreed in the Estimates. We must await the outcome.” She pointed out that the high-level objectives had been agreed with Opera Ireland, Opera Theatre Company and the Arts Council. She summarised these as “producing opera at all scales, promoting and encouraging the experience of opera productions among a wider audience, encouraging the development of the opera industry, establishing an innovative and diverse education and outreach programme and developing opera as an art form through the commissioning and presentation of new work.”

She was unable to say whether the company will be classified as a national cultural institution.