There was a most dreadful piece of tosh on the Today Programme on Radio4 this morning; saying that the attempt by the Savoy Opera [www.savoyopera.com] [www.savoytheatre.co.uk] to bring cheap (or inexpensive?) opera to the masses was a dreadful thing, would undermine all the multi-million-pound subsidised opera companies, absorb all the tourist trade, and be middle-class, middle-of-the-road, repertory fayre that would not challenge people by playing the opera in “Baader-Meinhof suits” (for instance).

To me it sounds like they – the opera establishment – sound rather scared.

Goodo.

It strikes me that when Rossini, Verdi, Mozart (et al) were writing this stuff it really was music for the masses, rather than a besuited evening out with overpriced drinks in a tux.

I for one intend to take in several shows; and apparently they have The Magic Flute lined up for Christmas…

The audio will appear at some point today on [www.bbc.co.uk] – I shall post a comment with the Realaudio URL for the segment later.