At the winter meeting of the Association of European Opera Houses held in Brussels in November, the Director of l'OpΘra de Monte Carlo described running a financially successful opera company as akin to winning the State Lotto every year. "Each year your must get your six numbers up" - the six numbers being public funding, box office income, corporate sponsorship, private giving, artistic expenditure and administration costs. "Get only five numbers and you lose, and of course the real problem is you've picked these numbers three years ago." Such is the nature of running an opera company.
At the meeting, a further discussion revealed that, of the 35 opera houses represented - most being national companies with year round programming - 19 did not achieve the magical "six numbers" at some point over the past three years. Each quoted slightly different reasons, and each will have to face the resulting deficit in different ways. Some have cancelled productions, others will alter programming to yield a higher box-office return in future years. The fact that opera is the riskiest, most expensive live art form in the world was illustrated yet again.
Some of the top houses in Europe are members of this Association, including The Royal Opera, Covent Garden; The Liceu, Barcelona; The Bastille, Paris; and The Staatsoper, Berlin. All of these receive public funding of staggering proportions - and all of which at some stage in their recent history have faced financial set-backs. Such is the nature of being an opera company.
Opera is not a profit-making business. That, however, is not to suggest that those managing its funding or controlling its expenditure interpret this truism as giving them carte blanche to spend at will with no concern as to who will pick up the tab.
Opera Ireland is no different. Although we are not a full-time producer, we still operate under the same principles.
Despite recent media reports, Opera Ireland's current financial crisis does not mean it doesn't have a viable and sustainable future. It has increasing box office returns, increasing numbers of individual subscribers and one of the highest achievement rates for commercial sponsorship for the arts in Ireland. So why has it hit a wall?
A contributing factor is the Company's insistence on adhering to its artistic principle, established in the late 1990s, to introduce new repertoire into its bi-annual seasons. Both the Arts Council and an increasingly well-travelled and discerning public actively demanded that the company expand artistically. Such pieces as SalomΘ, Boris Godunov, Lady Macbeth of Mtensk, The Silver Tassie and Julius Caesar were created and received with wide critical acclaim, both at home and abroad.
Introducing new works carries a high financial risk, a risk exacerbated through not being operative nine months of the year. Companies like Welsh National Opera or Teatre del Liceu, Barcelona have the time and the space in the year's programming to absorb the cost of new productions or more contemporary experimental repertoire, through presenting revivals of old favourites or offering more cost-effective recitals or mini-operas on their premises. Opera Ireland is not afforded such a luxury, yet of the eight productions offered in 2000 and 2001, all were new productions, and three were Irish premiΦres.
In addition, recent years have seen the company establish a series of Master Classes held in UCH Limerick and a touring company, Co-Opera, as well as creating audience-broadening activities in alternative venues, namely the l'Altro Mondo project at the Red Box and appearances at the Diversions Festival, Temple Bar.
All of these activities cost money; and yes, the company does have a deficit. Tackling this is my primary objective as newly appointed chief executive. This will be achieved through a range of measures, the most immediate being to adjust the programme for the coming spring season, postponing Janacek's Jenufa until 2003 and extending the run of Bizet's Carmen. Other measures include daytime studio performances with orchestra of Mozart's Marriage of Figaro and holding a Gala Benefit Concert. This does not mark a return to the artistically arid days of numerous revivals and under-resourced new productions. It is a once-off, realistic alteration of programming to ensure that no additional deficit is incurred - and demonstrates my confident belief in the additional box office such a selection will yield.
We will resume our standard programming in November 2002 with Andrea ChΘnier (Giordano) and The Queen of Spades (Tchaikovsky), neither of which has been performed in Dublin for at least 20 years. Let's look forward not only to more nights at the opera, but also days, afternoons and summer evenings as well.
