OVERSEAS OPERA

Press, Volume C, Issue 29554, 1 July 1961, Page 2

OVERSEAS OPERA

' ' * *' Ab' Enjoyment By lYoung Persons He had been impressed by the number of young persons, many of them aged 16 or 17, who attended and enjoyed ballet and opera overseas, Mr J. CoHinis. a Christchurch businessman said yesterday. Mr Collins has just returned from a trip to the United States, Britain, the Continent, Bangkok, and Hong Kong. He left New Zealand on April 7. Mr Collins talked to many conductors. directors, producers and others closely connected with the theatre and attended the opera in San Francisco, New York. Paris and London. Of all the opera houses, the Paris one had impressed him most. Mr Collins said. The building was magnificent and bad an air of dignity suited to the greatest occasions. Tn Britain the British Arts Council made finance available to most theatrical organisations 'through grants from the Government, In 1946 the Government had allowed £235.000. but today the grant was £1 million and a half. One-third of this sum went to tihe Royal Covent Garden Opera, which, because of it' importance and the cost of its upkeep, was considered of top priority. The other opera, ballet and drama organisations which received grants also received about £2 million and a half annually in box office takings but still required the grants in order to continue. Artistic Festivals The Edinburgh Festival and other well-known artistic festivals would be unable to continue without the grants, said Mr Collins. Several svmphon.y orchestras in London were in the some position. Tn France, the theatre received Government assistance. but this was not the ease in the United States where the Sen Francisco Opera House always operated at a deficit, in spite of Its popularity. Because of this, oroanisationn were forced to nail on their subscribers for a»' ! stance. The New Yo'k Opera House presented 25 operas a season and Md 8000 subscribers. The San Francisco Onera House staged seven operas a season, each one at a cost of about £13.000. San Francisco now had a new house which could take 2.3°0 persons. He had seen ballet presented on British television, said Mr Collins. The advantage of televised opera and belief was that the audience was brought closer to the nerft>rmer«. and received the full benefit of their expressions. I