That's an extremely valid point.  I think part of the success of the ENO "powerhouse" era was that the marketing "push" was on ENO as the funkiest place to see anything in the arts, and that anything you might go to there would be a sure-fire success AND you'd be sitting amongst celebs and musos in the audience too.  The CBSO with Rattle in Birmingham achieved the same thing.

On the other hand Tatiana Kuinji (probably the top colaratura soprano working in Russia right now, since Netrebko left anyhow) told me she was just back from a concert in Rostov-On-Don.  Apparently people complained that the seats cost 100 rubles (£2) instead of the usual 50 roubles (£1).  And actually Rostov isn't a poor or backward place, either 

I suppose that's my only choice. It's OK, I'll let Byron go first.

That's a very good point, and incisively made, George. Thank you for reminding us.

I do think £65 is a ridiculous amount to have to pay to see an opera, not in terms of how much the artists need to be paid (although I can pretty much guarantee you Birtwistle is being paid well enough for his trouble, Reiner, since that's the one part of the process on which I don't feel the need to bow to your superior knowledge) but in terms of the idea of hoping the widest possible audience would be willing to take a chance on going to see such a thing. But that's not even really to do with the tax system or the cultural funding set-up in Britain, as far as I can see: it's to do with the eternal problem raised by people needing to make a living and/or spend part of their living on an activity which is designated as 'leisure' but is in fact, of course, an evolved form of the fundamental human compulsion to give expression to ideas and feelings. I don't see how you're going to square that circle unless and until we manage to abolish money and private property, so in the meantime we're always going to be living with a paradoxical situation to which there are no ideal solutions.

Yes, but only some. And the ROH's Linbury studio is putting it on in March. You wait ages for a production, and then two come along at once ...

Concerning the hoo-ha about £65 seats for The Minotaur, this is only the top price. The full price range is: £5, £10, £20, £30, £35, £40, £50, £65. Hardly exorbitant - after all, it's not a local church hall production. And these prices compare very favourably with the ROH's more usual ones.

Exactly! I agree in principle with everything Reiner Torheit says, we ARE getting value for money - but the fact remains that, for those of us on low incomes, opera is more or less out of reach most of the time.
No doubt the powers that be would argue that people on CHAV incomes 'ought not to' love the arts anyway, it's above their heads.....

Going to be there on April 30th.

My first Birtwistle opera 

I've never been to a Birtwistle opera either, but am looking forward to The Minotaur. I do have a CD recording of Gawain, which I wished I had seen, but it was very early in my opera-going days and I was 'playing safe' with the repertory!