fri 29/11/2024

Who earns £630,000 at the Royal Opera House? | reviews, news & interviews

Who earns £630,000 at the Royal Opera House?

Who earns £630,000 at the Royal Opera House?

Covent Garden report reveals top salaries way above Southbank Centre or National Theatre chiefs

As arts cuts announced today start to bite, few people are aware that the Royal Opera House pays its two top people more than £630,000 and nearly £400,000 each. Although Covent Garden is refusing to identify them, it is likely that they are chief executive Lord Hall and music director Antonio Pappano. But they are not likely to have to sacrifice their earnings even while smaller arts organisations fold.

As arts cuts announced today start to bite, few people are aware that the Royal Opera House pays its two top people more than £630,000 and nearly £400,000 each. Although Covent Garden is refusing to identify them, it is likely that they are chief executive Lord Hall and music director Antonio Pappano. But they are not likely to have to sacrifice their earnings even while smaller arts organisations fold.

Share this article

Comments

NIce article and good to see this information pushed into discussion. It'd be great to see similar figures for similar national organisations in Scotland. One question that has been raised since I Tweeted this story earlier today: why do you not name the author of this article? I think I'm correct in saying that other articles like this are also published without the name of the author.

The Arts Council is indeed a model of open reporting, but the annual report you provide a link to contradicts your assertion that “its top salaries are no more than £110,000 - with eight people on that level”. Rather it tells us that in the year ended 31 March 2010, its chief executive Alan Davey's remuneration was £191,000 (as against £175,000 the preceding year, 08/09, so quite a hefty raise in a recession), COO Althea Efunshile's was£157,000 and a further four staff were on more than £115,000.

There was a time when it was an honour and a privilege to work in the arts for the good of the community as a whole. We now seem to have a new bread of directors and chief executives, many of whom come from outside the arts world, who see it as a way of making a name for themselves, achieving public recognition and taking more out of the 'public purse' than they really do deserve. Perhaps with the forthcoming cuts arts boards will come to realize that these people will work for far less- if forced to, which will have the effect of bringing much more dedication to the job.I was never paid a penance -just sightly more than that, but I was happy in the knowledge that I was playing some part in introducing the public to the arts. It was worth it!

Add comment

The future of Arts Journalism

 

You can stop theartsdesk.com closing!

We urgently need financing to survive. Our fundraising drive has thus far raised £33,000 but we need to reach £100,000 or we will be forced to close. Please contribute here: https://gofund.me/c3f6033d

And if you can forward this information to anyone who might assist, we’d be grateful.

Subscribe to theartsdesk.com

Thank you for continuing to read our work on theartsdesk.com. For unlimited access to every article in its entirety, including our archive of more than 15,000 pieces, we're asking for £5 per month or £40 per year. We feel it's a very good deal, and hope you do too.

To take a subscription now simply click here.

And if you're looking for that extra gift for a friend or family member, why not treat them to a theartsdesk.com gift subscription?

newsletter

Get a weekly digest of our critical highlights in your inbox each Thursday!

Simply enter your email address in the box below

View previous newsletters