Much has been made of the speed with which tickets for this season's Royal Opera Ring Cycle sold out. And it's true, even after Bryn Terfel's withdrawal, that tickets have been well nigh impossible to come by. It has to be one of the boldest and most admirable initiatives in the recent history of the Royal Opera, then, to put on a performance of Das Rheingold exclusively for students. Tickets for last Friday's performance were sold at a fraction of their normal cost (top price tickets, normally costing over £200, were made available for under forty pounds) and it was heartening to see the capital's student population, so often accused of apathy, turn out in their droves. The performance sold out in what Tony Hall, the Royal Opera's chief executive, called a 'staggering' response.
Speaking to the production's Fricka, Rosalind Plowright, whose son and daughter were in the audience, it was clear how refreshing the atmosphere had been on the stage as well as off. 'Acting in this Rheingold is such great fun – being part of such a mad family - and it was even more fun to play it in front of such an enthusiastic audience. All the principals absolutely loved the atmosphere there was for this performance. It was wonderful to hear real laughter in the Niebelheim scene, where normally all you hear is something far more subdued. It was infectious and we started laughing off stage as well.' She added that they all knew that it would go down well. 'I knew my children would love it, so had no worries about all the other students enjoying it. It's such amazing music and Keith Warner's production, which the critics have now started to enjoy as well, is so dramatic.'
There was something almost unreal about seeing the stalls packed with young people, several dressed up for what was obviously seen as a special occasion. For the impecunious, going to the opera often means being tucked away in the shadows, with restricted view, or up in the gods. At this performance, there was a feeling that these students really appreciated the opportunity they'd been given to take their places in the most exclusive parts of the house.
This appreciation extended to the hugely enthusiastic applause at the end of the evening, augmented by exuberant whistles and bravos. The singers - exactly the same cast as for all other performances - seemed genuinely overwhelmed by this response. 'I wish we had that sort of ovation for every performance we did', said Plowright. 'It was wonderful, too, to have the evening conducted by [Jette Parker] Young Artist, Rory Macdonald. Although he'd been there for most of the rehearsals, hearing the tempi and learning the score inside out, this was the first time he'd conducted any of us with the orchestra, and it was an amazing feat for him to conduct a piece like Rheingold without having his own rehearsals.'
As he came to take his bow, to the loudest applause of the evening, the slight and youthful conductor was heartily embraced by John Tomlinson as the other principals applauded. This gesture seemed to sum up the whole event, the operatic establishment showing trust and affection for the younger generation, in whose hands, whether on the stage, in the pit or in the audience, the future of opera lies. I asked if Rosalind Plowright had done anything like it before. 'No, I've done school matinees before, which are similar, but never anything like this. And it's so important because it opens opera up to a whole new generation, if we don't do that, thirty years down the line, all the opera audiences will be dead!'
No doubt the decision as to whether this admirable initiative is extended to further performances of great operas will wait until the Royal Opera's accountants have had a good look at the balance sheets. But we have to hope that financial implications are subordinated to the lofty ideals that made this performance possible - the kind of idealism, unencumbered by practical considerations, that would have made Wagner proud. Guaranteeing an audience for opera into the future is surely the kind of investment that cannot have a price put on it.
By Hugo Shirley
Photo credit: Marco Borggreve