A feast fit for the Mastersingers: Wales objects

Bit of a tizzy in Cardiff after Welsh National Opera decided to push the boat out for its biggest show in years. Richard Jones's new production of Wagner's Die Meistersinger von Nurnberg starring Bryn Terfel in his toughest challenge to date wowed most of us, and we hardly felt over-schmoozed in being well fed and watered in two separate functions during the long interval of this five-hour event.

The South Wales Echo reports different sentiments in the form of grievances from smaller arts groups who felt WNO were fiddling while their own much smaller grants might well be going up in smoke. Yet read between the lines and there's also a bit of Welsh chauvinism going on. One of the criticisms against WNO was that its glossy opera magazine featured contributions from costly English dance [sic] writers. Do they want WNO to be a world-class company, or just a perfectly good one admitting native artists only?

The horror, the horror, too, of serving red AND white wine at the functions! In fact the wine, and a few non-alcoholic drinks, was all we had at the post-show party: a vast gathering in a big space, but hardly the last word in champagne-drenched extravaganzas.

Yes, we all wait with bated breath for big cuts and hard times. But surely the world, a little slice of which had come to Cardiff for this event, ought to celebrate a top-notch production of the ultimate in operatic challenges? And surely the publicity has paid off for WNO, commended by several writers as coming straight out of the doldrums with this focused celebration of a show and not doing too badly with its current Rigoletto either. No doubt the moaners will have egg on their faces when this Meistersinger walks off with all sorts of awards, as I'm sure it must.