Madam, - I agree with Oliver McGrane's assessment of the opera scene in Dublin (December 2nd).
Twenty years ago, the DGOS was routinely presenting seven fully staged operas every year. In 1983, for example, it presented Manon Lescaut, Rigoletto, Madame Butterfly, Andrea Chenier, La Traviata, Cosi Fan Tutte and Lohengrin.
The critics were often scathing, the Dublin audiences often unappreciative. Even then there was pressure on the DGOS to become more "professional", or grants would be withheld.
So now we have a fully professional Opera Ireland. We get fewer productions each year, and sometimes none at all. This year, we got Norma on a black-draped stage, with black-clad chorus, and, for the most part, black-clad principles. The critics like it.
Is the world going mad or just drab? - Yours, etc.,
NOEL BUCKLEY,
Brighton Square,
Dublin 6.