New Financial Crisis for ROH
Date: 22 January 1998
The Royal Opera House s perilous financial position became even shakier yesterday with the announcement that a £2m gift had been withdrawn. The anonymous pledge was part of a £13m rescue package pulled together in November by the former ROH chairman Lord Chadlington. However, when Chadlington resigned following the publication of a scathing Commons committee report soon after, the money was withdrawn. The ROH revealed its current crisis in a letter to Culture Secretary Chris Smith yesterday who said that Sir Colin Southgate, appointed last week as the new ROH chairman, would now be ‘urgently considering emergency plans. These could include either closing the Royal Opera and Royal Ballet companies until their Covent Garden home is reopened in 1999 or seriously cutting back their current touring schedules. The companies are expected to lose up to £12m, in addition to existing debts of £4.7m, during their home-exile while the venue undergoes a £214m renovation.
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