Welsh opera talent pipeline ‘in jeopardy’ MSs warned

Chris Haines, ICNN Senedd reporter

An internationally renowned opera director warned the proliferation of Welsh talent will inevitably die out if the Welsh National Opera (WNO) faces further cuts.

Giving evidence to the Senedd’s culture committee, Adele Thomas, the WNO’s incoming joint general director, said grassroots support creates a pathway to the top of the industry.

“There just will be no pipeline any more,” she warned, with culture bearing the brunt of cuts in the Welsh Government’s 2024/25 budget.

Ms Thomas called for significant investment and a long-term commitment to the arts: “One day we will simply wake up and there will be no talent left.”

Christopher Barron described the current situation as a perfect storm, with the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama cutting its junior programmes and St David’s Hall closed.

‘Worry’

The WNO interim general director, who will hand over to Ms Thomas this month, said: “In terms of the musical system in Wales, it is reducing at the moment and that is a true worry”

Asked how much the WNO would need to survive, Mr Barron told the committee to keep an opera company going requires £10m to £12m a year.

“We’re transitioning from a company that turned over £16m a year to one that’s going to turn over roughly £11.5m,” he said.

Mr Barron explained that the WNO is jointly funded by the Arts Council of Wales and Arts Council England because the company tours across the border.

He welcomed an additional £1.5m for the Arts Council of Wales, saying the WNO is applying for a significant amount, but cautioned that the funding is non-recurring.

‘Jeopardy’

Mr Barron told the meeting on September 26 that the WNO’s team has contracted by 18% from a headcount of 220 to nearer 180 today.

He told the committee: “We’re in the middle of a compulsory redundancy process at the moment … we’ll be losing more people in October.”

Warning of “fundamental” cuts across the board, he explained that the WNO needs to find just over £4m in savings and the bulk of it by next summer.

Ms Thomas said: “Survival is incredibly perilous because it means stripping the finance to such a level that there is no room for error.

“Any slip in any direction could really put the company in jeopardy.”

‘Threat’

Ms Thomas suggested the organisation is crying out for some stability. She also raised concerns about conditions attached to Arts Council England transition funding.

Mr Barron, agreed that international reputation, quality and talent development are all at risk, saying the WNO is the most well-known opera company outside of Britain.

He said the WNO needs to find another £1m in savings by 2026/27, “so there’s another 18 months of fairly gruelling change”.

He told committee members: “If we reduce much more activity, particularly in England – I see that as a threat to the company.”

Mr Barron, who studied in Swansea in the ’70s, urged Wales to “adopt” the opera company, which received a 35% reduction in funding from Arts Council England this year.