March 22, 2026
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Opera chiefs launch post-curtain assault on Arts Council

Opera chiefs launch post-curtain assault on Arts Council

Peter Grimes opened last night at Welsh National Opera in Cardiff. Nicky Spence was Grimes, Sally Matthews sang Ellen Orford, Sarah Connolly was Auntie and Catherine Wyn-Rogers was Mrs Sedley. The chorus, we are told, ‘sang like demons’. The conductor was music director Tomáš Hanus.

Amid the curtain calls, WNO’s co-CEOs Sarah Crabtree and Adele Thomas, came on stage and made a long, scripted speech about the companmny’s plight after cuts by Arts Council England, describiung the assault on the arts in this country as a ‘threat to democracy’.

The speech was greeted with vociferous applause. We’d like to publish the script.

The post Opera chiefs launch post-curtain assault on Arts Council appeared first on Slippedisc.

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Remarkable intensity: powerful new 1980s-set Peter Grimes from Melly Still at Welsh National Opera with Nicky Spence

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