Royal Opera Faces Privatisation
Date: 16 March 1998
The official report is not due until May but the conclusions of Sir Richard Eyre's committee exploring options for the future of the Royal Opera House are already making headlines. According to national newspaper accounts, Eyre's committee will advise that the Royal Opera company be privatised while its more cost-efficient sister the Royal Ballet continue to be funded by the tax-payer; the the Royal Opera House itself, which is currently undergoing a £214m refurbishment, would then act as a publicly-funded receiving house for the two companies. The English National Opera would continue to operate as a separate entity, putting to rest speculation that it would be shoehorned into the ROH to reduce costs for each. If Eyre's recommendations are taken up by the Government, they will not come into effect into after the renovation of the ROH's Covent Garden home, scheduled for autumn 1999.
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