As Chris Addison says (Journal, 21 March), opera does not only to belong to the privileged elite. I am involved with an organisation called Streetwise Opera, founded by Matt Peacock over 15 years ago. The aim is to use opera to transform lives, mainly working with homeless people. There are weekly workshops in several cities across the UK, two of which are in Manchester.
Matt had been working at a homeless centre, and saw an article where a politician had said: “The homeless? Aren’t they the people you step over when you are coming out of the opera.” He decided to turn this image of opera on its head, and bring the most elite art form to some of the most marginalised and deprived people in society.
We have two workshop leaders in each group, all of whom are opera singers. All participants are currently or recently homeless. Some are from other vulnerable groups, eg those with mental health problems. We do not attend to discuss our hardships, but to lose ourselves in singing opera. I have attended in Manchester for almost four years. In that time, my confidence has grown exponentially. We also have opportunities to attend theatres, classical music concerts and operas.
We also perform opera every few months, and the aim is to produce quality work. We staged The Passion, an immersive opera based on Bach’s St Matthew Passion, in Manchester two years ago. We worked alongside the world-renowned choir the Sixteen and Harry Christophers. It was televised on BBC4. I played Jesus in Gethsemane. My self-esteem soared!
People are given a voice when no one ever listened before, and treated as equals. I have seen many people blossom as they put all they have into their singing. We see how high the human spirit can climb when given the chance.
There is now an international movement called With One Voice, which aims to use the arts to enhance the lives of homeless people. It is working. We recently attended an opera and I heard an old man, who had never had a chance to go to the theatre before, say: “This is brilliant. I thought this kind of music was just for posh people!” Wonderful!
Anita Ferguson
Bolton
• Opera receives a disproportionate amount of public subsidy compared to other art forms. In a time of continued austerity, there are two opera houses in London, soaking up substantial public funding. The Arts Council’s funding decisions are based on the bounded rationality of the past. The lack of art form policies guiding funding decisions has bedevilled the arts in England since the instigation of the National Portfolio bidding process in 2012.
The National Portfolio scheme was an abrogation of the Arts Council’s duty to ensure funding by art form on an equitable basis. The result is that in 2018/19, opera will receive £57.1m, of which 32.5% will be spent outside London. Classical music will receive £19m of which 55% is allocated to the English regions, and jazz will receive a total of £1.6m, of which 30% is spent outside London; 3.4 million people attend classical music concerts, 2.1 million attend jazz concerts and 1.7 million attend opera.
Chris Hodgkins
London
• Thank you, Chris Addison, for helping to combat the myth of elitist opera. Prices for the forthcoming Rolling Stones concerts at the London Stadium range from £100 to £273. Tickets for the current performances of Verdi’s Macbeth at Covent Garden, with diva assoluta Anna Netrebko, range from £17 to £245.
Alec Nacamuli
London
• In the 40s my parents – dad a gardener, mum a shop assistant – did their “courting” by going to the opera. In the 70s they had season tickets to Scottish Opera and greatly enjoyed opera until mum died. Dad continued to enjoy opera and made trips to Verona. Not your typical opera lovers?
Margaret Vandecasteele
Wick, Caithness
• Speaking of trade unions (Letters, 21 March), I’ve yet to read any coverage of the daily protests at the dismissal of six cleaners/porters from the Royal Opera House, London, organised by the Cleaners and Allied Independent Workers Union. Joining them in solidarity recently, as the visibly well-heeled arrived for a performance, was a stark illustration of the inequity ravaging this country.
Bill Hawkes
Canterbury, Kent
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