To Establish British Opera on Sound Basis

Sun (Auckland), Volume I, Issue 150, 15 September 1927, Page 1

To Establish British Opera on Sound Basis

Sir Thomas Beecham Unfolds New Scheme “TWOPENCE A WEEK” British Wireless—Press Assn Copyright Reed. 11.27 a.m. RUGBY, Wednesday. Sir Thomas Beecham, who has done much for British opera, unfolded today- some details of a new scheme by which he hopes to

establish British opera on a permanent basis. He estimated that there are 150,000 people in this country to whom his scheme would directly appeal, and he calculates that an opera season such as he would like to give would inevitably mean a loss of £60,000. This sum would be pro-

vided if the 150,000 Sir Thomas Beecham persons would subscribe Ss a year, or only 2d a week. His slogan, therefore, is “Twopence a week for the finest opera in the world.” Subscribers to the enterprise would be given preferential treatment in regard to seats, paying less for them than the prices charged to the general public. Opera would be provided in London, and in some of the great provincial centres, with the finest material available in the Empire. The personnel of his operatic company would be 95 per cent. British. He added: “I leave 5 per cent, open, because it; is quite possible that for some little time I may have to call upon foreigners in the departments in which British artists and producers and so on have little or no experience.”—A. and N.Z.