I'm not at all convinced of the wisdom of pushing the ENO out of London, but I don't have a dog in that fight and I'd also be pleased to see them in Manchester. As to whether Manchester is 'an Opera city'...absolutely no reason why it shouldn't be, and the idea of Factory International being its home is an intriguing one. There's no reason why new and old art forms shouldn't coexist in an arts space, and in fact it's likely to benefit both. I think a barrier to date - and I appreciate this may be an unpopular opinion - has been that The Lowry is a dreadful venue for Opera North to visit. They're a great company and I've long been a supporter, but for whatever reason of design the Lowry main stage has awful acoustics for opera, and sucks all the life out of performances. I still attend (!) but it would be fantastic to have opera in Manchester in a venue that serves it properly.
Interesting. I'm going to my first Opera North performance at the Lowry next week (Traviata on Tuesday if you happy to be going and fancy a wine before) so I'll experience it then.
Manchester should go all out to welcome the ENO. there used to be a home for northern ballet in manchester but nobody bothered to help it and it relocated to Leeds. As a global city we are now big enough and ambitious enough to host the serious culture institutions and the Halle and Bridgewater Hall are already successful examples.
Shame not to mention the removal of the Oldham Coliseum grant. A scandal. As I understand it, the Factory would be entirely unsuitable for opera due to the acoustics. To house ENO at the Lowry would destroy a venue with enjoyably eclectic programming, and have an appalling effect on Opera North (which was meant to be English National Opera North). And in any case, the argument for opera in English has been lost since the advent of surtitles. Manchester as a home for ENO feels really like a red herring, even assuming that there might be a regular audience, which I doubt. Birmingham would make more sense. A mad thought that would be that ENO could find a home at the RNCM, whose theatre is well equipped for opera, and whose students would benefit from having a professional company on the premises. Too mad, probably. I feel very bad for the orchestra and chorus and employees of ENO, whose management has been dire.
I’m horrified to hear that the Oldham Coliseum has lost its grant. I haven’t been there often, but when I have it’s seemed to be a venue admirably rooted in its community with a loyal welcoming team on the door and members of the audience who are clearly local regulars. One of the three productions I’ve seen there this year was the Coliseum’s own production of ‘The Road’. It was terrific. It’s a play written in the 1980s by Jim Cartwright, a playwright from nearby Farnworth, about a wild and heartbreaking Saturday night on a working class street in a mining town in the North. It was Cartwright’s first play, and was something of an award-winning sensation in its time, a sort of theatrical equivalent of Bleasdale’s ‘Boys from the Blackstuff’. It’s an ambitious play to put on, and the team at Oldham Coliseum did it proud, with casting updated appropriately and unobtrusively to reflect the more racially diverse community that would inhabit such a street now. You can see from the theatre’s website how active it is in seeking to include works and activities which represent ALL the communities in Oldham: for example, a superb touring production in the summer provided a sobering insight into the experience of the black community in a post-industrial city in America, one of August Wilson’s Pittsburgh cycle of plays. Another play this season aimed to explore the experience of the South Asian community here. They put on cultural events for the Traveller community. I could go on. So: a small regional theatre with a great history (my late mum used to speak reverently of seeing Dame Flora Robson performing there not long after WWII), rooted in its community, artistically ambitious, successfully so, and concerned with issues of inclusion and diversity. What more could the Arts Council possibly want? You’re right, it’s a scandal.
My first experience of Opera was Britten's 'Midsummer Night's Dream', by ENO at the Coliseum, around 1967 at the age of about 15 (I'm a Londoner by birth). I would never have been there without the free tickets (free to us kids, at least) supplied via the Education Authority, It was an overwhelming experience, which led to an enduring familiarity with Britten's work. Along the way the same scheme let me and a school friend see Fidelio and Die Fledermaus (all sung in English).
I can sympathize with ENO in their not wanting a forced move from familiar surroundings, especially given the domestic upheaval of relocation for staff and families, and the proposals do seem to be a blunt instrument. However, sensitivity was never likely to be part of this government's approach, let alone attention to details, and the Arts Council is no doubt following orders from on high. More generous support for touring, possibly with grant conditions to ensure it actually happens would be a better idea, not just for Manchester but for the region. That said, I look forward to seeing ENO at the Lowry, if that happens.
Just for the record, the wonderful Cartwheel Arts had its Arts Council funding removed twelve years ago for no good reason. As the community arts organisation that wouldn't die, the restoration of national funding is fully deserved. I strongly recommend that you consider a piece on Carwheel's long-term, stunning and empowering work in margenalised communities in north GM.
Phil Barton
PS Declaring an interest as a former trustee and (briefly) Chair of Cartwheel Arts.
Unfortunately, I don't really see the idea of ENO based in Manchester flying. Most of the points I am going to make have been covered in previous comments, but I think the key issue is money. ENO will be given a £17m block of funding (over 3 years) to relocate outside of London which is an absolute pittance given the size and challenges of the project. Manchester has been proposed as a location (and I've no idea why Hugh Canning seems to think Salford is somewhere else), but the challenge of finding a suitable base in the area would seem almost impossible. Apart from The Lowry, which I will come onto in a minute, the cost of adapting an existing venue, never mind building a new one, would use all the funding immediately. An ideal venue would seat around 1,000 and I don't think anywhere of the right size is available; The Palace and The Opera House both seat almost 2,000, would never be filled and are far too large whereas the RNCM auditorium seats 400 so would be too small. And of course, the new company wouldn't use the theatre all year round (even in London the ENO opera season lasts barely 6 months) so would need to share it with other resident or visiting companies. The Lowry has been suggested as a base/venue, but as others have mentioned, a nearby rehearsal space would also need to be built. There are other downsides to The Lowry in that (again) it is too large seating 1,750 (Opera North shows at The Lowry are usually barely half full and I've never seen a full one) and it is difficult to get to particularly on public transport. Basing a new opera company there would also probably mean that Opera North would no longer visit.
So, may difficulties to overcome, but if it did happen it would be great and I would become a major supporter (as I am already of opera at Buxton, opera at the RNCM and Opera North).
The big problem with arts funding is that there is no long term, or politically agreed planning. It would of course be much better if money was distributed more fairly between London and the rest of the country, but it can't be done in one fell swoop. To suddenly leave companies floundering is just stupid, in my opinion. Imagine trying to plan ahead, when, however successful you are, your grant can be taken away suddenly on more or less a whim! as with ENO, and the Britten Sinfonia (based in Cambridge), and as others have mentioned, the Oldham Coliseum. This is the real underlying issue.
I don’t know Joshi. It depends on how the acoustics in The Factory are intended to work. From what I’ve read it is a very large space which can change configuration. It’s unlikely to have a designed acoustic for separate types of performance given that it doesn't yet seem to have any deals fixed up to use the space(s).
“It’s not an opera city as both The Royal Opera and Opera North have discovered to their cost. There’s a reason why ON goes to Salford''
Patronising rubbish. Several years ago, I attended Opera North's performance of Wagner's Ring Cycle
- all 15 hours of it -at the Lowry. All four performances were packed out.
Manchester itself has a world renowned conservatoire which attracts singers and musicians from all over the world, and an equally respected Music department at the University of Manchester.
There is no shortage of opera afficionados in Manchester to give ENO a warm welcome if it decides to settle here.
It would put Manchester on the map for something far more interesting other than boring old football.
Hi Joshi, yes, acoustics are always more of an art than a science but you can measure them. What I didn’t say in my post was that I was project manager for the Leeds Grand Theatre redevelopment for Leeds City Council/Opera North. The auditorium needed some physical changes to ‘tune’ the acoustics for Opera voices which of course are not amplified artificially. But we had to also make sure that the use of the theatre for the half of the year when ON were touring was not compromised. The project also involved a new building next to the Theatre for ON rehearsal space hence my comments about the technical facilities needed to support opera performance and performers. The stage at The Lyric in the Lowry is a gift to an opera company and if ENO did move there, and were supported to build the necessary technical spaces, it could be a demonstrable success for the Arts Council’s policy. In fact the Arts Council funded a substantial amount of the Leeds project, probably because Earl Harewood was ENO patron and was local.
Opera companies have particular technical requirements to be able to operate in a venue on a long term basis. The size of the stage is absolutely key as is the technical and space back up such as rehearsal rooms for both cast and orchestra. The former needs to be the same dimension as the stage to enable rehearsals to use similar staging. A modern electronically operated flying system is preferable due to manual handling regulations. The Lyric at the Lowry Centre has a stage which is used by ON and possible availability of adjacent land to build a rehearsal centre. Leeds Grand Theatre is a good example. Why not Salford with the advantages The Lyric already has?
Surely you cannot simply pick up an orchestra and move it to another part of the country? The players are based in London and I doubt many of them would be able to unsticks and move due to a myriad of other commitments. In which case new players would have to be found and then it would not be ENO but a completely different opera company and should have a different name.
What an intriguing Comments page. I’ve learnt a lot from these contributions. I’m sure Metro Mayor Paul Dennett is delighted at the prospect of ENO relocating to his cultural domain, even if it means finding new rehearsal space & tweaking the Lowry acoustics. He already has a building way more distinctive than Factory, that houses an excellent stage & orchestra pit, within a fine auditorium.
I’m reminded that OMA’s winning scheme for Factory didn’t have acoustic consultants on board. They came with the first £30m+ cost hike. Whoops…a bit of an oversight for a performance venue, you might think.
Hard surfaces and huge voids are everywhere in Factory’s trio of performance spaces. I should have thought the natural acoustic is a nightmare for performers & audience alike, despite box-within-box construction, & a couple of thousand bespoke engineered dampers. Whatever else your fevered brow may envision when you encounter Factory, I doubt Opera House comes to mind. Nor, unless more forgiving performance surfaces are added, will ballet or contemporary dance of any kind. I’m afraid that a building resembling a white elephant may finally emerge as just that.
The proposal is a typical metropolitan approach to an issue. Not enough money spent in the provinces? Send the poor relation to them ; with a small, time limited dowry, and let them eat if not cake at least a chelsea bun. we have a great , touring opera company in salford( oN) who do great work. Try to see their take on orpheus on a night out in leicester( classical italian/.indian music)
On the subject of the opera we have here already, I’d just like to give a shout-out for Buxton Opera House. Yes, yes, I know it’s not in Greater Manchester, but from where I am in Stockport it’s easier to get to than The Lowry. It hosts its own International Opera Festival in July each year, with young singers trained at the RNCM giving heft and enthusiasm to the choruses. They also host productions by English Touring Opera, which last week put on a mini-festival of three Handel operas. A chap I was sitting next to had travelled down from Cumbria to see them, and both of us agreed that ‘Tamerlano’ on the Saturday night was as good an experience of opera as you’ll find anywhere. English Touring Opera is a small outfit, and they’ve had their own problems with Arts Council grants, but they seem to have a talented and ambitious artistic director. Sets and costumes tend to be designed to produce maximum effect for minimum cost, and the components of the set are pushed about the stage and locked in place and unlocked by the singers themselves in ways that you’d never see in a glittery West End production. Most of the singers are young, in the process of establishing their careers, and boy can they sing. ETO be back in May 2023 with three more productions. The chap from Cumbria has already booked his B&B as well as his tickets, and I’m likely to be doing the same.
As a resident of Manchester since 1952 and a lover of opera, I think having the ENO based in Manchester would be a great idea.
I'm not at all convinced of the wisdom of pushing the ENO out of London, but I don't have a dog in that fight and I'd also be pleased to see them in Manchester. As to whether Manchester is 'an Opera city'...absolutely no reason why it shouldn't be, and the idea of Factory International being its home is an intriguing one. There's no reason why new and old art forms shouldn't coexist in an arts space, and in fact it's likely to benefit both. I think a barrier to date - and I appreciate this may be an unpopular opinion - has been that The Lowry is a dreadful venue for Opera North to visit. They're a great company and I've long been a supporter, but for whatever reason of design the Lowry main stage has awful acoustics for opera, and sucks all the life out of performances. I still attend (!) but it would be fantastic to have opera in Manchester in a venue that serves it properly.
Interesting. I'm going to my first Opera North performance at the Lowry next week (Traviata on Tuesday if you happy to be going and fancy a wine before) so I'll experience it then.
What a shame, I’m going on Wednesday☹️ Be interested to hear what you think - hope I haven’t put you off! 😉
You haven't! I've been to opera in Munich, New York, Saint Petersburg and now... Salford. Try everything once.
Same
Manchester should go all out to welcome the ENO. there used to be a home for northern ballet in manchester but nobody bothered to help it and it relocated to Leeds. As a global city we are now big enough and ambitious enough to host the serious culture institutions and the Halle and Bridgewater Hall are already successful examples.
Yes, that's a better articulation of what we were trying to say....
Shame not to mention the removal of the Oldham Coliseum grant. A scandal. As I understand it, the Factory would be entirely unsuitable for opera due to the acoustics. To house ENO at the Lowry would destroy a venue with enjoyably eclectic programming, and have an appalling effect on Opera North (which was meant to be English National Opera North). And in any case, the argument for opera in English has been lost since the advent of surtitles. Manchester as a home for ENO feels really like a red herring, even assuming that there might be a regular audience, which I doubt. Birmingham would make more sense. A mad thought that would be that ENO could find a home at the RNCM, whose theatre is well equipped for opera, and whose students would benefit from having a professional company on the premises. Too mad, probably. I feel very bad for the orchestra and chorus and employees of ENO, whose management has been dire.
I’m horrified to hear that the Oldham Coliseum has lost its grant. I haven’t been there often, but when I have it’s seemed to be a venue admirably rooted in its community with a loyal welcoming team on the door and members of the audience who are clearly local regulars. One of the three productions I’ve seen there this year was the Coliseum’s own production of ‘The Road’. It was terrific. It’s a play written in the 1980s by Jim Cartwright, a playwright from nearby Farnworth, about a wild and heartbreaking Saturday night on a working class street in a mining town in the North. It was Cartwright’s first play, and was something of an award-winning sensation in its time, a sort of theatrical equivalent of Bleasdale’s ‘Boys from the Blackstuff’. It’s an ambitious play to put on, and the team at Oldham Coliseum did it proud, with casting updated appropriately and unobtrusively to reflect the more racially diverse community that would inhabit such a street now. You can see from the theatre’s website how active it is in seeking to include works and activities which represent ALL the communities in Oldham: for example, a superb touring production in the summer provided a sobering insight into the experience of the black community in a post-industrial city in America, one of August Wilson’s Pittsburgh cycle of plays. Another play this season aimed to explore the experience of the South Asian community here. They put on cultural events for the Traveller community. I could go on. So: a small regional theatre with a great history (my late mum used to speak reverently of seeing Dame Flora Robson performing there not long after WWII), rooted in its community, artistically ambitious, successfully so, and concerned with issues of inclusion and diversity. What more could the Arts Council possibly want? You’re right, it’s a scandal.
I’ve never seen an opera but will give it a go if the ENO come to Manchester.
My first experience of Opera was Britten's 'Midsummer Night's Dream', by ENO at the Coliseum, around 1967 at the age of about 15 (I'm a Londoner by birth). I would never have been there without the free tickets (free to us kids, at least) supplied via the Education Authority, It was an overwhelming experience, which led to an enduring familiarity with Britten's work. Along the way the same scheme let me and a school friend see Fidelio and Die Fledermaus (all sung in English).
I can sympathize with ENO in their not wanting a forced move from familiar surroundings, especially given the domestic upheaval of relocation for staff and families, and the proposals do seem to be a blunt instrument. However, sensitivity was never likely to be part of this government's approach, let alone attention to details, and the Arts Council is no doubt following orders from on high. More generous support for touring, possibly with grant conditions to ensure it actually happens would be a better idea, not just for Manchester but for the region. That said, I look forward to seeing ENO at the Lowry, if that happens.
Nice story Ian. Hope we get ENO or some regular opera presence here.
Just for the record, the wonderful Cartwheel Arts had its Arts Council funding removed twelve years ago for no good reason. As the community arts organisation that wouldn't die, the restoration of national funding is fully deserved. I strongly recommend that you consider a piece on Carwheel's long-term, stunning and empowering work in margenalised communities in north GM.
Phil Barton
PS Declaring an interest as a former trustee and (briefly) Chair of Cartwheel Arts.
Thanks Phil. That's a great idea. Would you mind making yourself known to mollie@manchestermill.co.uk?
Unfortunately, I don't really see the idea of ENO based in Manchester flying. Most of the points I am going to make have been covered in previous comments, but I think the key issue is money. ENO will be given a £17m block of funding (over 3 years) to relocate outside of London which is an absolute pittance given the size and challenges of the project. Manchester has been proposed as a location (and I've no idea why Hugh Canning seems to think Salford is somewhere else), but the challenge of finding a suitable base in the area would seem almost impossible. Apart from The Lowry, which I will come onto in a minute, the cost of adapting an existing venue, never mind building a new one, would use all the funding immediately. An ideal venue would seat around 1,000 and I don't think anywhere of the right size is available; The Palace and The Opera House both seat almost 2,000, would never be filled and are far too large whereas the RNCM auditorium seats 400 so would be too small. And of course, the new company wouldn't use the theatre all year round (even in London the ENO opera season lasts barely 6 months) so would need to share it with other resident or visiting companies. The Lowry has been suggested as a base/venue, but as others have mentioned, a nearby rehearsal space would also need to be built. There are other downsides to The Lowry in that (again) it is too large seating 1,750 (Opera North shows at The Lowry are usually barely half full and I've never seen a full one) and it is difficult to get to particularly on public transport. Basing a new opera company there would also probably mean that Opera North would no longer visit.
So, may difficulties to overcome, but if it did happen it would be great and I would become a major supporter (as I am already of opera at Buxton, opera at the RNCM and Opera North).
The big problem with arts funding is that there is no long term, or politically agreed planning. It would of course be much better if money was distributed more fairly between London and the rest of the country, but it can't be done in one fell swoop. To suddenly leave companies floundering is just stupid, in my opinion. Imagine trying to plan ahead, when, however successful you are, your grant can be taken away suddenly on more or less a whim! as with ENO, and the Britten Sinfonia (based in Cambridge), and as others have mentioned, the Oldham Coliseum. This is the real underlying issue.
I don’t know Joshi. It depends on how the acoustics in The Factory are intended to work. From what I’ve read it is a very large space which can change configuration. It’s unlikely to have a designed acoustic for separate types of performance given that it doesn't yet seem to have any deals fixed up to use the space(s).
Got it thanks
“It’s not an opera city as both The Royal Opera and Opera North have discovered to their cost. There’s a reason why ON goes to Salford''
Patronising rubbish. Several years ago, I attended Opera North's performance of Wagner's Ring Cycle
- all 15 hours of it -at the Lowry. All four performances were packed out.
Manchester itself has a world renowned conservatoire which attracts singers and musicians from all over the world, and an equally respected Music department at the University of Manchester.
There is no shortage of opera afficionados in Manchester to give ENO a warm welcome if it decides to settle here.
It would put Manchester on the map for something far more interesting other than boring old football.
Hi Joshi, yes, acoustics are always more of an art than a science but you can measure them. What I didn’t say in my post was that I was project manager for the Leeds Grand Theatre redevelopment for Leeds City Council/Opera North. The auditorium needed some physical changes to ‘tune’ the acoustics for Opera voices which of course are not amplified artificially. But we had to also make sure that the use of the theatre for the half of the year when ON were touring was not compromised. The project also involved a new building next to the Theatre for ON rehearsal space hence my comments about the technical facilities needed to support opera performance and performers. The stage at The Lyric in the Lowry is a gift to an opera company and if ENO did move there, and were supported to build the necessary technical spaces, it could be a demonstrable success for the Arts Council’s policy. In fact the Arts Council funded a substantial amount of the Leeds project, probably because Earl Harewood was ENO patron and was local.
Very very interesting, thanks. One more q - I've seen an opera director on Twitter saying singers would need to be mic'd at Factory. Is that true?
Opera companies have particular technical requirements to be able to operate in a venue on a long term basis. The size of the stage is absolutely key as is the technical and space back up such as rehearsal rooms for both cast and orchestra. The former needs to be the same dimension as the stage to enable rehearsals to use similar staging. A modern electronically operated flying system is preferable due to manual handling regulations. The Lyric at the Lowry Centre has a stage which is used by ON and possible availability of adjacent land to build a rehearsal centre. Leeds Grand Theatre is a good example. Why not Salford with the advantages The Lyric already has?
Someone said something similar to me today. What do you make of the acoustics for opera though? You'll see another commenter here isn't a fan.
Surely you cannot simply pick up an orchestra and move it to another part of the country? The players are based in London and I doubt many of them would be able to unsticks and move due to a myriad of other commitments. In which case new players would have to be found and then it would not be ENO but a completely different opera company and should have a different name.
The whole thing is very sad.
What an intriguing Comments page. I’ve learnt a lot from these contributions. I’m sure Metro Mayor Paul Dennett is delighted at the prospect of ENO relocating to his cultural domain, even if it means finding new rehearsal space & tweaking the Lowry acoustics. He already has a building way more distinctive than Factory, that houses an excellent stage & orchestra pit, within a fine auditorium.
I’m reminded that OMA’s winning scheme for Factory didn’t have acoustic consultants on board. They came with the first £30m+ cost hike. Whoops…a bit of an oversight for a performance venue, you might think.
Hard surfaces and huge voids are everywhere in Factory’s trio of performance spaces. I should have thought the natural acoustic is a nightmare for performers & audience alike, despite box-within-box construction, & a couple of thousand bespoke engineered dampers. Whatever else your fevered brow may envision when you encounter Factory, I doubt Opera House comes to mind. Nor, unless more forgiving performance surfaces are added, will ballet or contemporary dance of any kind. I’m afraid that a building resembling a white elephant may finally emerge as just that.
The proposal is a typical metropolitan approach to an issue. Not enough money spent in the provinces? Send the poor relation to them ; with a small, time limited dowry, and let them eat if not cake at least a chelsea bun. we have a great , touring opera company in salford( oN) who do great work. Try to see their take on orpheus on a night out in leicester( classical italian/.indian music)
On the subject of the opera we have here already, I’d just like to give a shout-out for Buxton Opera House. Yes, yes, I know it’s not in Greater Manchester, but from where I am in Stockport it’s easier to get to than The Lowry. It hosts its own International Opera Festival in July each year, with young singers trained at the RNCM giving heft and enthusiasm to the choruses. They also host productions by English Touring Opera, which last week put on a mini-festival of three Handel operas. A chap I was sitting next to had travelled down from Cumbria to see them, and both of us agreed that ‘Tamerlano’ on the Saturday night was as good an experience of opera as you’ll find anywhere. English Touring Opera is a small outfit, and they’ve had their own problems with Arts Council grants, but they seem to have a talented and ambitious artistic director. Sets and costumes tend to be designed to produce maximum effect for minimum cost, and the components of the set are pushed about the stage and locked in place and unlocked by the singers themselves in ways that you’d never see in a glittery West End production. Most of the singers are young, in the process of establishing their careers, and boy can they sing. ETO be back in May 2023 with three more productions. The chap from Cumbria has already booked his B&B as well as his tickets, and I’m likely to be doing the same.