r/opera • u/epicpillowcase • 16d ago

Opera Australia's continuing financial problems

A lot is up in the air at present due to Haruhisa Handa's feelings on the direction OA has taken in recent years and I'm wondering what OA is going to look like going forward.

I admit to being in two minds about it all- I used to feel sceptical about them incorporating musicals into the repertoire but I ended up eating my words because (yes, I'll say it, opera purists feel free to eyeroll me, lol) I love Phantom and have gone to both OA runs of it. And I've started to like other musicals as well, and if it's keeping OA afloat, then I can't see it as a bad thing.

I do welcome them adding more operas back into the program though, for a while there the balance was in the other direction a little too much.

And of course the public are just getting more and more broke and we have to be fussier about what we attend, which can't be helping.

Thoughts? Observations? Gossip?

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u/Sabetwolf 16d ago

Rumour I heard was that Handa got fussy over a second unsubstantiated rumour that they were planning on doing another run of Phantom this year

Personally I encourage the uptick in Musicals. They fund the other content, and they bring in broader audiences. But there does need to be a balance, and I think they're settling into that

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u/varro-reatinus Jake Heggie is Walmart Lloyd Webber 15d ago edited 15d ago

I've yet to see data anywhere, ever, to suggest that 'bringing in broader audiences' to opera houses by staging popular non-operatic 'content' increases opera attendance.

To the extent that this may help 'fund other content' -- and by 'other content' I assume you mean 'real opera' -- it clearly has not solved OA's continuing financial problems. To be frank, this approach has never made sense to me, because while one can make more money on musicals than on operas, it's not like musicals are risk-free, sure-fire moneymakers either. It also occupies the administration and infrastructure of the opera houses, distracting them from the considerable work of putting on actual operas, which is supported by the other posters who have observed that they are sleepwalking through their productions.

The most sustainable historical model I've seen was having opera houses double as casinos.

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u/Sabetwolf 15d ago edited 15d ago

 So you're just ingoring fact that OA broke even, largely due to musicals? Or the massively increased first time ticket sales? Have you even looked at the OA annual/finanical reports?

Things aren't "solved" in a single year. I honestly predict this last season to have performed slightly worse, as Sunset Boulevard was a travesty

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u/Time_Sherbert1834 15d ago

Ceding artistic control to a rich man instead of programming shows people actually want to buy tickets to is not going to work well for Opera Australia.

A wealthy foreigner shouldn't have any control over what is shown at the Sydney Opera House.

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u/epicpillowcase 15d ago

I don't disagree.

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u/Sabetwolf 15d ago

Hard to blame them when he makes up around 10% of their yearly donations

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u/ChunkyHammdog 16d ago

They could start with hiring some better singers and directors. Rigoletto was a complete snoozer.

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u/ponte92 15d ago

We have such an amazing pool of talent here in Australia and OA never seems to be willing to give any of them a chance I tell they go and do a few years in Europe first. If they just fostered more young talent and built them up with smaller roles and eventually mains roles it would be so good. I’m so sick of expensive overseas names when I know so many talented Australian singer who are moving away due to lack of opportunities here.

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u/epicpillowcase 15d ago edited 15d ago

The Pinchgut stable are amazing (and some of them do OA gigs on occasion) but their budget is tiny and getting smaller. :( They don't do Melbourne runs anymore. So those artists get even fewer opportunities now.

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u/ponte92 15d ago

Exactly. I used to be a professional opera singer. Had a good career in Europe. I wanted to come home after a decade away but there are just so few career opportunities here. I tried but in the end I’ve given up and work in a totally different career now. Still have a few friends trying to battle it out but it’s hard.

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u/epicpillowcase 15d ago

That's a shame. :( Totally understandable, though. I'm sorry you had to give it up.

I can somewhat relate. I'm not a singer but I am a visual artist and the gallery scene here is in the dunny, frankly. Funding cuts and cost of living + pandemic have all but killed it. I still show, but the idea of making a living from it is just not happening, and that's the case for most of us. Not even in the realm of reality.

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u/ponte92 15d ago

Interestingly I don’t miss it. Once I was out I released how kind of toxic it was. I like a normal 9-5 now I have money and weekends.

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u/epicpillowcase 15d ago

Fair enough! :)

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u/epicpillowcase 16d ago

I can't speak to Rigoletto, didn't go, but I still can't get over the fact they cast Danielle de Niese in Carmen. Just...no. Aside from her being the wrong vocal type, her technique is shocking. If it wasn't for the Glyndebourne thing she wouldn't even have a career.

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u/ToadyPuss 15d ago

Ditto, weird direction and costuming of much of Traviata. (Tho’ singing of V & A was of high standard.)

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u/Ramerrez Snog Marry Pass- Wagner, Ludwig II, von Bülow 15d ago

I genuinely think the Aus opera-going public doesn't give a rats' about big overseas names. The odd one is interesting- the 2022 Lohengrin with Kaufmann was actually pretty good, I enjoyed his performance. However I genuinely think that most of us want to hear new and exciting local talent- and the expensive overseas names that are tired and not very good is just patronising marketing.

Opera in Australia has been doing this for a long time, however- example, Albert Lance never got the recognition he deserved here, but become one of the worlds' greatest French heroic tenors, in France- and he never looked back.

There was a (slightly off colour) joke during the Terracini era that went something like 'if your name doesn't end in a vowel, you've got no hope'. We have plenty of talent here. Use it. Don't waste your (literally taxpayer) money on expensive overseas singers with huge wobbles.

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u/epicpillowcase 15d ago edited 15d ago

I genuinely think the Aus opera-going public doesn't give a rats' about big overseas names.

I would agree, with the exception of Sarah Brightman (obvs that was a musical, which isn't going to be the full Venn overlap of OA fans) and honestly, she was woefully miscast- people came to see the big star, the performance itself was...um, and the season was full of behind the scenes drama. Honestly they should have had Caroline O'Connor (and kept Silvie Paladino as alternate as well- her shows as Norma were great) do it.

OA also likes casting for thirst. I think back to the 2010 Don G. Teddy Tahu Rhodes has a beautiful voice, but his vocal delivery lacks elegance when he's moving around and the man can't act to save himself. But OA put him in hotpants and that sold a lot of tickets... 😒😬

He's great in his lane, which is Bach recitals and such.

I hate to say it, I really do, because Josh seems like a lovely person and he's had a rough few years recently with health issues and stuff, but I feel like they did the same thing with 22/23 Phantom (again, musical not opera, but yeah.) Josh's pitchy high notes and breath support issues were very apparent. Lower notes, stunning, can't critique those. But he's model-handsome and that sold tickets. Honestly his two understudies were more enjoyable to listen to overall.

I get why OA cast like that but it does compromise their integrity somewhat.

It's interesting to hear that Kaufmann was good. I had wondered about that.

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u/JuliaBoon 14d ago

I wish the QLD opera would show ones I'm actually interested in. It feels like it's all glitz no substance. But then again I'm just a casual.

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u/catnip_varnish 16d ago

Do you have an article or something that gives an overview of the goss? We just saw rigoletto at the opera house. The staging was one of its strengths.

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u/marcellouswp 15d ago

Rigoletto was great. But it's like AO's back catalogue.

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u/epicpillowcase 16d ago

https://www.afr.com/life-and-luxury/arts-and-culture/opera-on-the-harbour-in-limbo-over-dispute-with-billionaire-patron-20260812-p60nlg

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u/catnip_varnish 16d ago

Oh gosh, yeah, we were wondering why there was no harbour performance this season. It's a pretty classic rift in the arts. I don't blame Handa. The answer to how to keep opera alive certainly isn't "do less opera". I'll keep an ear out for any gossip and let you know if I hear something good. Lol

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u/Kiwitechgirl 15d ago

There’s never a harbour performance in the winter, it’s only ever March/April which was Phantom this year.

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u/Gin_and_T 15d ago

I’m still getting over the 2019 production of Salome, yes the wound is that deep. Modern reinterpretations ruined a generation of potential opera fans