While we remain firm supporters of "fixed" location companies with dedicated theatres - finding theatres that can stage the Ring for example can prove more than difficult - we are greatly saddened by the news that the Nationale Reisopera have lost their battle for funding - and for more than the obvious reasons. Touring opera - in its many forms - is often the only manner that a large number of people will ever get to see "large scale" opera "live". With so many national companies located in major capitals - and with the stubborn reluctance of these companies to tour - there is a real need for those organisations that will tour.
There has been much talk in the UK, as to how companies can get "young" people to the opera house. Solutions proposed so far have included video advertising campaigns that include no opera but resemble more a trailer for the latest series of Dr Who and silly campaigns about "dressing down" (as if anyone "dressed up" to go to ROH or ENO, for example). Perhaps offering touring productions to reach those either less likely, or more likely unable to commit the expenditure to traveling and staying in a capital city would be a more constructive method?
A few tickets maybe still available for Götterdämmerung.: Full details here
