SUPPORTED BY OPUS ARTE
I’m writing this letter as I prepare to celebrate International Women’s Day on 8 March, since I thought it would be a good occasion to highlight something that has struck me about the opera world in recent years. I love opera and I’m a great fan of Opera Now – I’ve been reading the magazine regularly since 2001; but I can’t help remarking on a run of recent covers: Albina Shagimuratova, Elīna Garanča, Kristine Opolais and Marianne Crebassa are all attractive young women, photographed to emphasise their youthful, diva looks together with some aspect of a kittenish sexual allure. The most recent issue of the magazine (March 2017), on the other hand, had Thomas Hampson on the cover. He is a formidable artist, of course, as well as being a man of a certain age and experience, greying at the temples. He is photographed to highlight his downto- earth, approachable personality and his status as a ‘serious’ commentator on opera.
I do feel there is an imbalance here – not exactly sexism but an inability, whether conscious or not, to separate looks from achievement when it comes to celebrating the vast contribution that women have made on the operatic stage. When will Opera Now have the likes of Dame Felicity Palmer on the cover? Or indeed Dame Felicity Lott, Rosalind Plowright or Janis Kelly – all women who have made a huge impact on the international opera stage (and that is just a list of names from the UK), but who, on the very grounds of ‘age and experience’ have been overlooked in recent years as cover stars.