Bring Opera To The Masses
There are two different types of opera charities. There are the opera companies who are registered charities to give them access to funding they would otherwise not be able to get and there are the opera charities who help to spread opera to the world.
The Royal Opera House in Covent Garden, London and the world famous Glyndebourne Opera House in Sussex are both registered charities as they need to raise money to survive. Several smaller opera companies have also registered themselves as charities as Government funding of the arts in the UK has diminished over the years due to the financial climate.
The opera companies who bring opera to the masses are not necessarily registered as a charity but they are very much an opera charity because they give their services free to promote the genre they love.
One of the leading opera charities in the UK is the Hatstand Opera Company which gives free performances indoors and out whilst raising money for charity. They also take opera to people who might never be able to afford to set foot inside an opera house.
Set up 20 years ago by mezzo soprano Kirsty Young all their performers are experienced singers who love singing with this company as they raise funds and spread the word of opera.
Tete a Tete is another opera charity based in London. Founded in 1997 by the current artistic director Bill Bankes-Jones, conductor Orlando Jopling and former administrator Katie Price this company commissions new operas. Their aim is to encourage new audiences and persuade them that opera does not always have to be traditional.
The world-famous Doyly Carte Opera Company is now officially an opera charity as it set up its own Doyly Carte Charitable Trust. The main aim of the Trust focuses on the arts, medical welfare and the environment and it offers funding between £500 and £5,000 three times a year in March, July and November.
Their preferred applicants are those working on a project that involves a new use for an architecturally historical building.
