I completely understand rspcacambridge's and Doner Kebab's points that a lot of popular entertainment costs more than the opera. However:

1. Football/pop music doesn't get a massive subsidy from government to widen access to it

2. Football/pop music generally isn't charitable. 

Adam, Intelligent Giving

I think Catman mis-identifies the problem here. I agree that the ROH does a good job with much of its public-benefit/access work, but my point is that if less well-off people can't afford to attend performances, then this blows a pretty big hole in the ROH's claim to charitable status.

As for the suggestion that I ought to downgrade my wine-consumption habits, I could not disagree more. Although I did have some rather nice cava last night, it's really not in the same league as even PF's Nicolas Feuillatte. 

Adam, Intelligent Giving

I must say that I am impressed by the Royal opera House's work to get more young people involved and their plan to get their shows out to cinemas so others can experience some culture.

It seems to me that just reviewing a charities annual review is not enough to get a good understanding of the charity and it's work. Maybe this is the fundamental flaw in IG's plan to "save the world".

And Adam, your gripe seems to boil down to you not being able to get good seats for glamorous shows on the cheap. Well boo hoo! You seem quite willing to spend money on flashy champagne and exclusive wines, maybe you need to lower yourself to Cava and Jacobs Creek and save your money to see the opera.

catman

I think £6 a ticket is a bit unrealistic to be honest - it costs more than that to go to the cinema! However I agree that £50 is probably too much for the general member of public who might go out of curiosity rather than the proven opera fan (although bear in mind how many people pay £100+ for popular concert tickets nowadays - or at least did pre-credit crunch?).

It's not that expensive compared with football, for example.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/teams/m/man_utd/4895330.stm

I have to say personally I'd spend my fifty quid on a set of CDs, but presumably it's the live version that makes the recordings possible (even if they're not actually made at a live performance).

It's fantastic to see that the Royal Opera is willing to have a proper debate on this issue - especially when most charities, I suspect, would either try to ignore the question or else just get offended. 

I also think it's wonderful to see that the Opera has so many initiatives to increase access and involvement in its work; and I'm sure that in this regard it sets a good example to its fellow opera-houses around the world.

But I still have some problems with the Opera's approach. First, I know from bitter personal experience that it is virtually impossible to get cheap seats with a decent view at Covent Garden. Lest this sound like carping, I'd compare the Opera's performance in this regard to the National Theatre. The National has a policy of selling a big chunk of its very best seats for £10 at almost every performance. It also runs regular '£10' seasons, where about a third of tickets for selected performances are sold for (you guessed it) a tenner. But if I want to sit in the Opera's stalls, it will cost me upwards of £100 - and significantly more if the performance is particularly glamorous.

Second, I'd stand by my criticism of the Opera's '£50 is cheap' attitude, displayed in its annual review. This document is quite astonishingly smug - and the assumption that people on low incomes will be able to fork out £30-£50 for tickets remains really quite offensive.

As I say in the original post, I think the Opera deserves its subsidy, and I think it does some excellent work. But I'm still at a loss to understand why the subsidy should further be enhanced by charitable status.

Adam, Intelligent Giving

Sorry Christopher.
As a working adult, anything above £6 a ticket is outside my price range.
I've no major interest in either opera or ballet and at the prices you mention it looks like I'll be unlikely to go see a live performance.
Maybe I'll stick to borrowing DVDs from the library.

Martin

 Adam Rothwell’s assertion that the Royal Opera House cannot justify its charitable status is simply incorrect.  Education and accessibility is at the heart of what we do. In 2008-09 more than 12,000 children from all over Britain will attend our schools matinees at £6 per ticket and 140,000 people of all ages will engage in our educational programme.  With to regard to ticket prices, in 2008-09, 40 per cent of seats (260,000 seats) will cost £30 or below, 43,000 more seats than in the 2007-08 season. The new Family Performances supported by Lord and Lady Laidlaw of Rothiemay, offer families who have never previously attended a performance in the main auditorium the opportunity to come and enjoy either opera or ballet for between £5 and £20. The performance is accompanied by a free programme of activities including creative workshops and back-stage tours. The Paul Hamlyn Club continues to provide 20 tickets at subsidised prices for each main stage performance throughout the year. Prices are £20 for opera and £12 for ballet. Since its inception three years ago, almost 6,000 people have benefited from the scheme. The Student Standby scheme continues to flourish with more than 19,000 students now registered to receive email or text alerts for the £10 student standby tickets sold for performances at the last minute. In addition, more than 44,000 tickets are available for performances in other spaces within the Opera House ranging from £6 to £28.50 including chamber operas by The Royal Opera in the Linbury Studio Theatre. There is a flat £5 ticket price for the annual programme of Firsts-an innovative programme of short contemporary works supported by the Helen Hamlyn Foundation. Also on offer, are more than 11,000 free tickets for daytime performances. Our opera and ballet is now being screened across the country and overseas  in the highest quality for about £12.50each.  This is the first time that ballet has been screened into cinemas. The BP Summer Big Screen programme reaches thousands in different locations around the country from Aberdeen to Belfast to Leeds, London and Ipswich. Three different productions are relayed live from the Royal Opera House every summer and are completely free. The cost of all this is approximately 90p per year to each tax payer. 

None of the thousands of people who benefit from these initiatives would have the opportunity if it were not for the Royal Opera House’s charitable status, and the generous support of our donors and sponsors. We are absolutely passionate about sharing the world-class work that the Royal Ballet and Royal Opera produce with as wide an audience as possible, and our work in this area is constantly expanding and evolving.

Christopher Millard

Director of Press and Communications, Royal Opera House