Sir, – Timothée Chalamet made throwaway remarks about opera and ballet, but Finn McRedmond’s opinion piece is misinformed (“Timothée Chalamet is right; no one cares about opera or ballet," Opinion, March 12th).
The only evidence McRedmond provides for the demise of opera is that the Metropolitan Opera in New York is seeking to sell its Marc Chagall murals. McRedmond blindly asserts that “opera attendance is plummeting, its core audience slowly dying”. Later, she refers to opera and ballet audiences as “monstrously self-regarding snobs”.
Opera has many challenges today but this analysis is lazy and misinformed. In Ireland, since the formation of Irish National Opera (INO) in 2018 as an initiative of the Arts Council, audiences for opera are growing, not shrinking. Some facts: INO’s 2025 production of Puccini’s Madama Butterfly at Bord Gáis Energy Theatre sold 26 per cent more tickets than the same opera in the same venue in 2019.
INO’s 2026 national tour of Janácek’s The Cunning Little Vixen sold out in many of the regional venues. It’s not just audiences that love our work; we have a growing pool of large and small donors who invest in opera so that people of all ages can enjoy these experiences.
RM Block
Audiences for opera in Ireland are remarkably diverse. At INO, we have a big focus on attracting young audiences and those new to opera. We offer discounted student tickets (which mostly sell out) and we have an award-winning programme of outreach work that engages with schools, universities and other communities.
I hope McRedmond will come to see our forthcoming production of Dvořák’s Rusalka at the Bord Gáis Energy Theatre in the coming weeks. She will see a huge number of passionate opera-goers of all ages and backgrounds, but I’m willing to bet she will struggle to come across a single monstrously self-regarding snob. – Yours, etc,
FERGUS SHEIL,
Artistic director,
Irish National Opera,
Dublin 2.
Sir, – As a musician who works widely across many opera houses and institutions in the UK and Europe, let me state categorically that opera is alive and well.
Opera houses throughout Europe boast sold-out performances. I was at the Semperoper in Dresden, Germany, for one such performance two weeks ago. According to their website now, there are no tickets available for any of their upcoming performances. Attendees are just regular folks on a night out, no headline-grabbing celebrities on stage but talented singers and actors who have worked hard to get there.
Timothée Chalamet was perhaps looking for pre-Oscar attention with his comments, which he surely got. However, we also appreciate the worldwide spotlight being turned on us for a rare moment and welcome it as an opportunity to see how our art is loved by so many. We are tired of being called elitist when we are storytellers whose core material has stood the test of time and will continue to do so for centuries. – Yours, etc,
DEARBHLA COLLINS,
Drumcondra,
Dublin 9.
