Madam, – I refer to An Irishwoman’s Diary (September 20th) and Jim Walsh’s letter (September 22nd) regarding the imminent closure of Opera Theatre Company.
Mr Walsh makes reference to the lack of wisdom in concentrating all national opera activity into one company, or “cartel” as he refers to it, and appeals for opera “in this country not to become the preserve of those who happen to live in the capital”. I wish to clarify that the proposed new Irish National Opera Company will neither include nor involve Wexford Festival Opera, currently in rehearsals with the 220-strong performing, artistic and technical teams in advance of our imminent 59th festival.
Therefore, his fear of the concentration of all national opera activity into one Dublin-based organisation is ill-founded, as Wexford Opera will continue to independently produce and present stimulating, challenging, and frequently award-winning main-stage and smaller-scale operas to capacity national and international audiences.
I, for one, also lament the imminent demise of Opera Theatre Company and the highly innovative, creative and educational work which our friends and colleagues in that company have brought to generations of audiences right across the country for a quarter of a century.
– Yours, etc,
Madam, – As a former board member, albeit a distinctly ineffectual one, of Opera Theatre Company (OTC), I regard the decision to close it down as an act of cultural madness.
Eileen Battersby (An Irishwoman’s Diary, September 20th) puts the case for the survival of OTC far more eloquently and passionately than I ever could. If it’s not broken and if it is unique and valuable, why smash it into smithereens?
– Yours, etc,