The grindstone

Several days in the northern Portuguese town of Porto were blessed with the unexpected bonus of sunshine and warmth. A dose of light works wonders for the spirit – even when the spirit is sodden with quantities of the beverage that took its name from the town. The trip was pleasantly embellished by texts from James reporting on a steady stream of black pen entries on the 2008 Magic Flute board, which really is good news. I was in Porto for a football match and I can tell you that these days, the multifarious professions and characters that make the away trips is startling. Saying that I work in opera is still raises more eyebrows than most but I did meet “one of the top ten re-insurance lawyers in the world”. A thoroughly nice fellow with a lawyer’s sharp and educated brain, he nevertheless descends, with the rest of us, into squawking hysteria at the mere sight of a green pitch and white ball. The referee was especially subject to some colourful and Public/Catholic School inspired opprobrium. Football is like that and it has been a tradition at Holland Park for many years that we should make public announcements of the score of England matches during big tournaments. I suppose I could make one of those “from the pulpit” type speeches about how opera and football are not so different, but the memory of Billy Connolly’s brilliant sketch on the subject is enough to keep me the right side of such pretentiousness. I have no desire to end up Pseud’s Corner (actually, I’d probably consider it an honour if truth be told).

It has been good to hear of the success of two OHP favourites in the production of La traviata at the Sydney Opera house. Kate Ladner, who will reprise the role of Violetta for us in July, deserves the success and Aldo di Toro, one of the stars of our season in 2006 - and who will return in Jenufa in June - was a big wow too. He is going to be harder and harder to get as time passes I suspect. When he knocked everyone out in Fedora, his phone didn’t stop ringing for a week.

And now it is back to the grindstone. I am feeling somewhat freer of the theatre build since we finalised the mezzanine contractors but it is never ending and I suspect I shall continue to be as pre-occupied with the theatre as I am with selling tickets and everything else. I have been talking to gardeners about ferns and hostas, lavender and sweet pea, banana and fig. If nothing else, we’ll have the raw material to start up an OHP brand homeopathic range. Or maybe a fruit stall.

Audience's of the future

Barely a day in the word of the arts passes without a mention of "education". And of course, education programmes can attract lots of money from sundry charities or government bodies. Our own principal programme for this is the Free Tickets Scheme and I have to confess, I find it easier to raise money for this scheme than for almost anything else we do - £25,000 this season and counting. We are happy about this of course because we believe in the scheme - over 1200 young people will get the chance to attend normal, public performances in 2007. Every major opera company has an education programme of one kind or another; some focus on going into schools (we do that too), some are designed to make opera accessible to one group or other and some, like Grange Park’s prison project, have more ambitious aspirations to help turn people’s lives around. Most, however, when all is said and done, are about developing potential new audiences for the future. But I think the cultural benefits of introducing opera in its formal state to young people should have higher ideals than to merely increase the chance of them growing into future audience members (which is not a bad ideal I should add!) In Britain, among young people, the arts seem to me to be polarised. And too many people who work among young people are setting the agenda – in a sense telling kids what it is they can, will, should or are entitled to enjoy. It is incredibly damaging and patronising. It is getting better but I think exposure to the classical arts of young people is still criminally low. It needs to be pointed out that there is no “choice” to be made – one can still enjoy jazz, soul, rock or whatever alongside opera and classical music.

Among commercial sponsors of the arts, there is a growing desire to be involved with projects that are accessible. Korn/Ferry, our main sponsor, was very attracted to the open and informal nature of Opera Holland Park and they can be sure that their investment is indeed helping to sustain that principle. I recently met with another company and in the course of our conversation I saw an opportunity to present an “education” idea that has been floating around the office for about two years. As is the nature of these things, I can’t tell you the idea or the company! Suffice to say that it will offer thousands of children the opportunity to spend at least one hour of their lives thinking about, studying and listening to opera. I am glad to say that the company have responded well to the idea. It will be expensive – very expensive – but we as a company would retain not a single penny of the money from the sponsorship of the project, which we will in reality only be a partner to. We have to be clear about what the aims of these schemes are and that we a) follow through with them and b) ensure that should we succeed in sparking a love of opera in young people that we make it possible for them to actually enjoy the art form.

I note that Wasfi over at Grange Park has begun to fulfil her blog obligations (link provided in the column) and mentions meeting with James and I. It was a very enjoyable evening – Wasfi is never anything less than fully engaging company and it is easy to see why she has been so successful in building and sustaining the Grange project. Over a couple of bottles of wine, we had an interesting philosophical chat about the role of companies such as ours in the great opera picture; about how people on the outside see us as “competitors” when in fact we are nothing of the sort and actually spend a good deal of time communicating with one another in a cooperative fashion. We talked about how we might add some flesh to that co-operative bone so to speak. You’ll be the first to know how we get on.

The man from Kogorah, he say No

All of a sudden, issues that need to be dealt with are forming a long, disorderly queue. And I am not sure where to begin. I am yet to wave goodbye to the theatre build and design since a last minute change of configuration required two solid days of discussions over the telephone with men who know about such things. Thank heavens for computer-aided design! You'll be pleased to know that the upshot of these shenanigans is a centimetre more width to each seat. Yes I know it doesn't sound a lot. It is though. Trust me.

Clive James has declined the invitation to the Hall of Fame. As I suspected, now he has his new show on Radio Four, he has plenty of airtime with which to explore any number of art form. And that includes opera of course. I have several other people in mind though so there is no need to think the disappointment will end there.

Hundreds of Friends booking forms are pouring through the box office door right now but I am unable at this point to gauge what that means in sales terms. We’ll soon know.

Onwards

I apologise for the belated entry. It's over a week since I last posted anything and I am aware that people hang on my every word. Well, at least three people anyway.

It has been a good week but I am acutely aware of how this new theatre has precipitated much debate about how we do things as a company and is proving to be a real catalyst for change. Change can be unsettling and we are constantly examining and re-examining decisions we make, however exciting and obviously beneficial they appear to be.

James has had a great week for casting, finishing major roles after they appeared to have gone askew. Two fabulous singers from Eastern Europe are on board – a Russian and a Bulgarian – and that means the boards are full. Fantastic. Now it’s onto auditions for Flute in 2008 and just from the audition process that Simon Callow is inculcating, we can tell that the production will be far from ordinary.

Sample seats for the new theatre arrived yesterday and a procession of backsides were pressed into action (ooer) in the testing process. Overall space in the theatre, capacity and comfort are not always happy bedfellows but we think we have found the optimum point for both. The legroom seems cavernous but those of greater height than myself consider it “adequate”. If only we could tailor-make seating for the individual eh? The main thing though is that nobody will have their knees in the back of the seat in front of them and those of shoulder-widths greater than that of a cricket bat will feel less like a sardine. I am very happy.

We have been asked to participate in a television debate about opera. The whole thing has something to do with a series of programmes where the promoter Harvey Goldsmith lends his experience and talents to various entertainment acts and of course, he helped a small opera company. After each programme goes to air, they have a debate. This one seeks to “address the relevance of opera”. I am frequently amazed at how the media continue to peddle the myth that opera is a rarefied art-from and then proceed to ensure it stays that way by constantly asking the bloody question. I might agree to take part if only to growl at someone.

Speaking too soon

With the final comment of my last posting I tempted Fate. Fate couldn't resist and a big shiny bug entered the procurement process today. Actually, it's not that big, but it means more paperwork for sure and a round of meetings I could do without. This theatre had better be bloody beautiful.

The arrival of February means a few more hairs stand on end. Only two and a half months will have to elapse before the theatre build begins (shiver) but all seems to be on course production-wise and minds will begin to turn towards 2008. If that doesn’t sound especially impressive, one need only think of how we used to programme the seasons when it could be only 6 months before a show opened that we learned what the show would actually be.

Remarkably, someone did contact me regarding Clive James. And then I learn from the BBC website that he is about to begin presenting a new show on Radio 4. The man, having been out of the TV and radio spotlight since 2001, has his mug all over the place. Either my timing is impeccable, or it’s rubbish. I have yet to determine which.

BTW - it’s official. Clarinda cannot make coffee.