Grand Opera House in Belfast is honoured after a year of breaking records

Best Medium-sized Company of the Year sponsored by UU Business School Grand Opera House Highly Commended: Smurfit Kappa

THE Grand Opera House in Belfast was named Best Medium-sized Company of the Year, an award sponsored by Ulster University’s Business School.

Ian Wilson, chief executive at the Grand Opera House, said he was “delighted” after receiving the award from Dr Mary Boyd, head of the department of management, leadership and marketing at Ulster University.

The Grand Opera House is the only Victorian theatre in Northern Ireland and was built by the renowned architect Frank Matcham in 1895.

The theatre presents an outstanding programme of drama, dance, opera, comedy, musicals and family shows.

Despite the struggles of the pandemic and cost-of-living crisis disproportionately impacting the arts community within Northern Ireland, Mr Wilson said the Grand Opera House experienced record levels of attendance last year.

“We are the biggest art organisation in Northern Ireland,” he said.

“We achieved a record 83% average attendance last year.

“If we put that into the UK context, the average for theatres in the UK is 63%, so we are well above that.”

Mr Wilson said he was pleased with the award and believes it is something the staff at the Grand Opera House have earned.

“We are really delighted. I think this is testament to the staff of the Grand Opera House, because they work so hard in bringing those [theatre-goers] through the doors,” he said.

“Last year we did 412 performances, so I’m really pleased on their behalf.”

Mr Wilson said the Grand Opera House is planning “bigger and better” things and hopes to continue to be a trailblazer for entertainment in Northern Ireland.

It plans to offer a range of bigname performances throughout 2024.

“We are continuing to bring the big shows to Northern Ireland,” he said.

“We have just gone on sale with War Horse for two weeks. We also have three weeks of Tina Turner; one week of Kinky Boots. So we will just continue to do what we do best.”