Soprano returns as Royal Opera cuts ties with BP
THE Royal Opera House (ROH) has ended its 33-year sponsorship deal with BP after pressure from climate activists.
The venue in London’s Covent Garden is the latest institution to sever ties with the oil giant, which has been accused of “artwashing” its environmental impact with donations to cultural projects.
The decision follows similar announcements by the Royal Shakespeare Company and the National Gallery.
The ROH confirmed yesterday that it had ended its relationship with BP, stating that the sponsorship deal that ended in December 2022 “would not be renewed”.
Culture Unstained, a campaign group, said that the ROH’S decision marked a “seismic shift” and was part of a “near wholesale rejection across the arts of BP’S brand”.
The ROH has thanked BP for its decades of financial support, and the oil giant has said that it is “proud to have supported” the company.
The split coincides with a controversial Arts Council settlement in which budgets for opera companies were slashed, with the ROH losing about 10 per cent of its funding grant.
In the face of the cuts, the company has secured the services of eminent soprano Lise Davidsen, who is returning to the ROH for the first time since 2020, when she starred in Beethoven’s Fidelio.
The Norwegian singer will play Elisabeth in a new production of Richard Wagner’s Tannhäuser.
Speaking to The Daily Telegraph, she encouraged opera sceptics to buy tickets, saying the art form should not just be for “rich people or classical nerds”.
She has also admitted sometimes being “bored” while watching operas and even falling asleep. “But then there will be moments where I cry, where it can feel like nothing else,” she said.
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