Celebrity-signed letter warns £2.5 million Welsh National Opera cuts will be ‘devastating’

8 May 2024, 17:48 | Updated: 10 May 2024, 15:53

Prominent Welsh figures from Rob Brydon to Bryn Terfel have signed a letter warning government officials of the impact funding cuts will have on Welsh National Opera.

“Welsh National Opera is the jewel in Wales’ crown,” begins the open letter, addressed to members of the Welsh and British governments.

Founded in 1943 by miners, doctors and teachers, the company set out to celebrate and future-proof Wales’ reputation as ‘the land of song’.

60 years later, its future lies in the balance as the organisation faces cuts of over £2.5 million – around 25% of its annual budget.

The Welsh National Opera (WNO) has now announced reductions to its concert season offerings, is being “forced to make its orchestra and chorus, the beating heart of the company, part-time”, and is also offering voluntary redundancy to other roles across the organisation, in an attempt to cut costs.

A letter to cross-party politicians in the Welsh Senedd and Westminster urging for WNO to be rescued attracted more than 175 signatures from actors, singers, sports stars, and prominent figures in the classical industry, including Nicola Benedetti, Rob Brydon, Sir Karl Jenkins, Aled Jones, the Kanneh-Masons, Ruth Jones, Sir Bryn Terfel, Sir Simon Rattle, Julian Lloyd Webber, and others.

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The first blow to Wales’ industry-leading opera company came in November 2022, when Arts Council England announced budget slashes to many of the UK’s leading opera companies. The same cuts that made the news for forcing English National Opera to move to Manchester, also included a cut of one third to WNO’s allowance, from £6.2 million to £4 million each year.

At the time, a spokesperson for the Welsh opera company said: “We fully appreciate the pressures that ACE themselves are facing, but as we experience rising costs and reduced income in the current challenging economic climate, we will need to review the impact of this decision on the delivery of our services in England in light of the announcement.”

Read more: Leading UK opera companies have funding slashed in Arts Council announcement

Then, in September 2023, Arts Council of Wales announced that they would also be cutting funds to the Welsh National Opera by 11.8%, following an investment review.

“We have been clear our budget is up to £700 million less in real terms than when it was set in 2021 and we have had to take extremely difficult decisions,” a spokesperson for the Welsh government said.

In April 2024, WNO announced that it would no longer be performing two planned weeks from its 2024-2025 concert season, cancelling touring dates in Bristol and Llandudno in February and May of 2025 respectively, as well as its Cardiff production of Rigoletto in February 2025.

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Leading industry figures from across classical music and the wider arts and culture scene have now signed a letter, urging change.

Written and organised by soprano Elizabeth Atherton, the letter will be sent to First Minister of Wales Vaughan Gething, as well as Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer, culture secretary Lucy Frazer, and shadow culture secretary Thangam Debbonaire.

“WNO currently stands on a precipice,” the letter reads, continuing that in the absence of further funding, “the quality and output of Wales’ flagship arts organisation will be severely diluted in the UK and beyond.”

“WNO is the largest touring opera company in Europe, enjoying a global reputation for excellence, and representing ‘Brand Wales’ on the world’s stage. If WNO ceases to be a full-time company operating year-round it will be very hard to come back from that as the organisation becomes unable to retain its talent within Wales. What has painstakingly been built up over eighty years will be eroded and a vicious cycle will have begun.

“The potential dismantling of one of Wales’s finest national institutions would be devastating – for the nation, for the organisation and its 222 employees, and for home-grown cultural excellence. The world-renowned quality of WNO’s output will be eroded, as the true ensemble nature of the company is undermined, with top musicians unable to sustain jobs in the orchestra and chorus on a part-time salary and no real freelance work in Wales with which to supplement their incomes. The cultural life of communities across Wales and England will be impoverished and diminished as a result.

“Music and opera are needed now more than ever before. Not only do they have monetary value, existing in an ecosystem in which numerous other sectors and businesses benefit and bringing outward investment into our economy, but the value that they themselves bring to our lives as humans is immeasurable.”

The full letter is available to read here, and the list of signatories is here.