Countdown to Crisis?

The Royal Opera House is a national British organization responsible for running the Royal Ballet, the Royal Opera, and the building that houses them in Covent Garden, London. The ROH is subsidized by the Arts Council of England, which is funded by taxpayers' money allocated by the government. The Royal Opera House Trust raises funds from the private sector to top up public subsidy.

July 1995: The ROH wins a 78.5 million [pounds sterling] grant from the Arts Council's National Lottery toward the 213 million [pounds sterling] needed to rebuild the Opera House.

September 1996: Lord Chadlington, former head of the Arts Council's lottery panel, becomes ROH chairman.

January 1997: Sir Jeremy Isaacs quits as ROH general director and is replaced by Genista McIntosh, director of the Royal National Theatre.

May 1997: McIntosh quits and is replaced by Mary Allen, head of the Arts Council. July 1997: ROH closes for two years. Ballet and opera companies perform at a variety of different theaters in London and abroad.

October 1997: Royal Ballet loses 750,000 [pounds sterling] on twenty-six performances at the Labatt's Apollo, Hammersmith (West London), normally used for rock concerts and Riverdance.

November 1997: Lord Chadlington warns a parliamentary committee (headed by Gerald Kaufman) that the ROH is about to go bust. Bankruptcy is staved off but Sir Richard Eyre (former Royal National Theatre director) is asked to report on the option of moving the English National Opera into the ROH, along with the Royal Ballet and Royal Opera.

December 1997: Kaufman committee issues a report accusing ROH management of gross incompetence. Lord Chadlington and ROH board resign.

January 1998: Sir Colin Southgate (EMI chairman) is appointed ROH chairman. He threatens that ballet and opera performances may have to cease for two years to save money.

March 1998: Mary Allen resigns as executive director.

July 1998: The Eyre report is published. It rules out moving ENO into the Opera House but criticizes ROH management and attitudes. Eyre recommends that funding be withheld until the ROH puts its affairs in order. Bernard Haitink, musical director, threatens to resign.

September 1998: Michael Kaiser, administrator of American Ballet Theatre, announced as executive director of ROH--the fourth in two years.

October 1998: Deficit reaches 14 million [pounds sterling]. Southgate threatens to issue redundancy notices unless unions agree to radical new contracts. Dancers face salary cuts and reduced employment; opera chorus to be made part-time, with no performances in 1999. Unions protest, staff and performers demonstrate outside 10 Downing Street, dancers investigate breaking away from ROH control to form an independent company. Principal dancer Tetsuya Kumakawa quits, opting to remain in Japan. Haitink resigns.

November 1998: Five male dancers announce their intention to leave in January 1999 to form a new, Japanese-financed company with Kumakawa.

December 1998: Crisis over. Unions agree to new, improved working conditions starting September 1999. Successful Christmas seasons by ballet and opera companies. ROH grant to be increased over next three years, with immediate injection of 5.5 million [pounds sterling] until Opera House reopens at end of 1999. Haitink withdraws his resignation.

January 1999: New artistic director for ROH due to be announced (to work in partnership with Kaiser) along with future programming for the new building.