Dear Editor,

For the record, Roger Doyle’s faint and somewhat grudging praise for the work of Opera Theatre Company in nurturing new Irish opera and building new audiences for opera hardly gives the full picture. Furthermore his assertion that opera audiences are without exception conservative is a boring cliché that has long since ceased to mean anything. That description is an insult to the 900 mainly young and adventurous opera-goers who booked out (even before the opening night) our recent Irish premiere of an unknown twentieth-century masterpiece, Ullmann and Kien’s The Emperor of Atlantis. Had Mr Doyle come along himself he might have been pleasantly surprised by the excited crowd it drew.

In 16 years of existence, and courageously supported by both An Chomhairle Ealaíon and more recently by the Arts Council of Northern Ireland, Opera Theatre Company has consistently nurtured and promoted the work of Irish composers, as well as introducing audiences throughout Ireland and abroad to the work of these and other living composers. The scope of Opera Theatre Company’s development work in this area ranges from the facilitation of primary and secondary school workshops in composition, through projects bringing together Irish composers, writers and theatre practitioners to explore and develop a culture of new Irish opera. This commitment has led to the commissioning of ten new operas, the majority from those same Irish composers and writers, subsequently producing and touring their work throughout the country and beyond.

Irish composers commissioned include Raymond Deane, Fergus Johnston, Marion Ingoldsby, Elaine Agnew, Gráinne Mulvey, Kevin O’Connell, John Buckley and Stephen Deazley; with libretti by Gerry Stembridge, Nell McCafferty and Eilis Ní Dhuibhne among others.

Opera Theatre Company is currently working with not one but two young and brilliant Irish composers, Ian Wilson and Jürgen Simpson to develop and produce further new opera. We look forward to welcoming Mr Doyle and your readers to our next world premiere.

Andrew McLellan
Artistic Administrator
Opera Theatre Company
Dublin 2

Roger Doyle replies:

This was an article about current funding issues concerning Irish opera as a whole in relation to The Arts Plan. You never know who you are going to offend but I didn’t expect Opera Theatre Company to be upset. If there was space to go into details about each company it would have taken up the whole JMI. ‘Opera Theatre Company is the only Irish opera company to regularly commission and perform Irish chamber opera’ is what I said. Is that grudging?

Opera Theatre Company is making daring and innovative programming decisions and I am greatly heartened that they are attracting a young audience. I did not intend any offence to them or their audience.

My arguments must hold on to the bigger picture. I maintain that Irish audiences for opera in general are conservative as evidenced by the almost exclusive programming of very dead composers by all companies except OTC, a point which I had hoped I had made clear in my article.