Norman Lebrecht

British opera companies and orchestras must start investing in native talent

Brexit and Covid have pushed Britain out of the common musical market and thrown us back on homegrown sprouts. Good, says Norman Lebrecht

The making of a British opera company: English mezzo Edith Coates as Carmen in 1947 in the Royal Opera’s first postwar production,with sets by artist Edward Burra. Credit: Baron/Hulton Archive/Getty Images 
issue 23 January 2021
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Early in 1946, two men boarded a train at Euston and went trawling for talent. Audition notices were posted at town halls up and down the land: singers wanted, no experience required. Two thousand applied. One town after another, they lined up for Karl Rankl, Covent Garden’s music director, and David Webster, its general manager.

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