UK Edition
English National Opera offers novice critics free tickets in exchange for 'emotional response' reviews
English National Opera is to offer complete beginners free tickets to review its operas based on their “emotions”, as its chief executive says critics who focus on technical performance can be “befuddling and excluding”.
The opera company is to invite novice critics, who must not have published work on any print or online platform before, to write for its own website, promising to post their thoughts unedited.
Ten successful applicants will be given a free ticket worth £125 in exchange for their “emotional response” to each opera of the season, in a move critics fear will lead to further “dumbing down”.
The new Response scheme is aimed at encouraging diverse writers into opera, and is particularly seeking women, people of colour, and the young.
Stuart Murphy, chief executive, told the Observer: “Opera can be seen as a closed art form, and we think people should be able to review it more emotionally – not just from a technical standpoint about how sections of the orchestra played or how the soprano sang.
“The question is: did it make you cry, did it make you happy?”
After opera-lovers and experts raised questions about the policy, he added on Twitter: “Some opera reviews centre on technical analysis - ideal for opera fans, but for first timers, can be befuddling and excluding.
“An emotional response can be equally valid, as long as it’s not vapid or badly written.”
The novice reviewers will be trained by Lucy Basaba from website Theatre Full Stop, with their work posted on ENO’s own website unedited.
Basaba said: “The reviewer must be able to capture the mood of that opera very quickly and concisely.
“They will be able to articulate whether they feel the production is apt for our times and the review will be constructive – do they like the show or not.”
The initiative will see experienced reviewers stripped of their customary “plus one” tickets, a long-established courtesy in the art world which allows them to bring a guest to performances.
The London Coliseum, ENO’s home which has more than 2,300 seats, last year sold or gave away tickets at just 71 per cent capacity, according to its latest annual report.
While praising the laudable aim of encouraging new voices in opera, critics raised significant concerns about the impartiality of reviews written for ENO's own website, how well paying audiences would be served by critics without technical knowledge of the art form, and the perceived snub to experienced specialist reviewers.
Responding to the announcement on social media, conductor Leo Hussain said that a fundamentally “good idea” to encourage new opera critics had been “clumsily expressed”.
“Thinking about it, what irritates me most is that it reads as a clear case of dumbing down,” he said. “Professionalism and ‘technique’ is boring and uncool, only how it ‘makes you feel’ is important.”
Benjamin Hulett, a tenor, said: “I would worry about how many may toe the line in order to have another shot.”
A spokesman for ENO said: “This is a training scheme intended to broaden out the voices writing about opera and bring in new writers.
“We will provide all participants with a free £125 ticket, as with the current opera critics, and profile for their independent review.
“They will get feedback and writing advice from an independent company.
“The hope is we will find the next great generation of opera critics and broaden the reach of opera to even more people.”