Curtain rises on new era at Palace
ACCLAIM: A scene from Monkey: Journey To The West
THE nation’s two top opera and ballet companies, based at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, in London, are to have a second home in Manchester.
They will use the Palace Theatre, Oxford Street, for performance, production and training, according to Sir Howard Bernstein, chief executive of Manchester council.
Agreement in principle has come from the Palace Theatre’s owner, Live Nation, and talks are continuing on developing the two national companies’ presence there.
Sir Howard says: “This will be fantastic for Manchester and further enhance our strong cultural offer.”
It is the first time the city council has confirmed that talks with the Royal Opera House have come to a firm agreement. Previously the council has been forced to deny rumours that a new opera house would be built in east Manchester instead of the proposed casino, or on the site of the BBC headquarters when the broadcaster moves to Salford Quays in 2011.
The council has, however, said that there were ‘several possible sites’ for the project, and Royal Opera House chief executive Tony Hall has said the plan could involve using an existing theatre or a new one. Therefore today’s announcement does not rule out the possibility of a new building in the future. But the news that the nation’s two standard-bearing companies will be working in Manchester could be the biggest boost to the city’s cultural life in generations.
One possible motivating factor for this happening now is last year’s inaugural Manchester International Festival. The undoubted festival highlight was Blur frontman Damon Albarn’s Monkey: Journey To The West – a contemporary opera premiered at the Palace Theatre to huge acclaim. The opera then transferred to the Royal Opera House (it is about to re-open in London in its own custom-built space at the O2).
A definite factor in the scheme getting the go-ahead is that it will have a training function. The Royal Northern College of Music already has a flourishing opera training department and would be a valuable partner.
Manchester’s opera and ballet lovers clearly stand to gain from the move, but the loser could be The Lowry in Salford, which has had the pick of top-level touring opera and ballet since it opened in 2000 – and in particular Opera North, the Leeds company which puts on more productions here than any other.
Rod Aldridge, chairman of the Lowry Trust, said: “We must make absolutely certain that any proposal enhances and does not undermine the existing cultural life of the region and makes best use of public money at a time of economic difficulty.”
Sir Howard
Opera North boss Richard Mantle said: “When I was talking to Sir Howard and others, I said I believe the city and the region are under-served at present, and if there’s to be an extension of opera and ballet in the north west, I’m happy to be part of that.
“The question needs to be asked, though, that if there is to be exponential growth of opera and ballet in Manchester, should we not be looking to the existing providers?”
Supporters of the new scheme point out that the Royal Opera has performed here before: indeed, visits by top London opera companies were once regular in Manchester. In the 1980s the Palace was refurbished and its stage facilities transformed by businessman Raymond Slater, who spent £1,750,000 – a huge sum at the time – refurbishing the theatre. The argument had always been that Manchester didn’t have a stage big enough – so Slater extended the building and upgraded its facilities. The promise was that it was going to be Covent Garden’s northern home.
Sure enough, in 1981 we saw the Royal Opera in the Zeffirelli production of Puccini’s Tosca, along with Mozart’s The Magic Flute, Verdi’s Otello and Wagner’s Lohengrin. In 1983 there was another visit, this time with Mozart’s La Clemenza Di Tito, Verdi’s Il Trovatore and Puccini’s Madama Butterfly.
But the following year the Arts Council refused to foot the bill for any Royal Opera touring. It was the end of a cherished dream, despite desperate attempts by Slater and Mr (later Sir) Bob Scott, then boss of the Palace, to salvage it.
Sir John Tooley, general director of the Royal Opera House, was saddled with much of the blame at the time, but he revealed in his autobiography that he wanted the Opera House to have links outside London (and succeeded in establishing Birmingham as the home of the Royal Ballet’s second company). But then he was simply told there would be no more funds for Manchester.
He says he had a ‘heated conversation’ with William Rees-Mogg (Arts Council chairman at the time) about it, ending with Rees-Mogg putting the phone down on him.
Of course, Birmingham was Conservative-ruled at the time and Manchester was Labour. These things can be very political!
Published: Mon, 27 October, 2008
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