Slight at the opera as soprano f launts EU dress at Albert Hall
Singer who backed Remain march told to change pro-Brussels frock
IT was a chance for patriotic music fans to wave their Union Jacks and sing along to tunes from the Last Night of the Proms.
But it seems pro-Remain opera singer Anna Patalong couldn’t resist making her own political statement.
As the orchestra struck up the opening notes of Rule, Britannia! the 34-year-old soprano – who had earlier taken part in a march calling for a new referendum on whether the UK should leave the EU – appeared on stage wearing a striking yellow ball gown and a necklace of gold stars.
In case the message wasn’t sufficiently clear to the shocked audience at the Royal Albert Hall, over the course of her performance her blue waistband apparently became twisted to reveal its own pattern of gold stars.
She is also said to have twisted the tune of Rule, Britannia! to sound like the EU anthem Ode To Joy. However, her stunt
was short-lived. Following a complaint, she agreed to change back to the red dress she had worn the night before.
Yesterday Miss Patalong was hailed a hero by opponents of Brexit after her husband, baritone Benedict Nelson, said she had been told the colours were ‘too provocative’ and praised her ‘bravery’.
But one Remain- supporting audience member told him they had ‘paid to come to a classical music concert and not a political rally’. The extraordinary clash took place hours after Miss Patalong posed for a photograph between Independent Group MPs Chuka Umunna and Anna Soubry at Saturday’s London rally, which was attended by a million people.
A rising star of the opera world, the British mother-of-one was one of the singers at a performance of Raymond Gubbay’s hugely popular Classical Spectacular series. Her wardrobe protest is under understood to have taken place during Saturday’s matinee. Mr Nelson tweeted: ‘Yesterday a man was ejected from the ROH [Royal Opera House] for wearing a pro-EU T-shirt. Today my wife was asked to change her dress from yellow and blue at the RAH [Royal Albert Hall] as the colours were too provocative. ‘Anyone who knows their history knows what th that sounds like.’ But concertgoer Angela Whelan tweeted: ‘As a Remainer, I feel you have omitted a small but not so minor detail. Your wife looked as beautiful as she sounded in her yellow dress with blue sash.
‘However, as the concert progressed some yellow stars appeared on the sash, a very bold statement indeed. The public paid to come to a classical music concert and not a political rally. As much as I applaud your wife for having the guts to quite literally nail her colours to the mast, I feel it was inappropriate to do it at a concert.’
Miss Patalong has previously spoken of how her grandparents fled Poland after the Second World War and settled in England.
Last night Anthony Findlay, chief executive of Raymond Gubbay, confirmed she was asked to change – but denied she was told the dress was ‘too provocative’. He said: ‘We didn’t want any potential distraction from people having a good time. Out of caution we asked the soprano to revert to the red dress.’
Miss Patalong’s agent declined to comment.
The Royal Opera House confirmed the T- shirt incident and issued its ‘sincerest apologies’.
‘It was inappropriate to do it at a concert’