We call her the servant. Bare light bulb placed on a high foot, it remains lit on the stage when the theater is plunged into darkness. Faithful and discreet sentinel, she watches over the empty stage. “Unless, as tradition dictates, she’s there to ward off ghosts…”, recalls Gabriel Méraud-Lanfray, technical director of the Rouen Opera. This night light is also called Ghost Lamp in English, in reference to the ghosts that haunt deserted theatres.
Next spring, the servant could have shined longer than usual. In his own defense. Indeed, on February 2, the management of the Rouen lyrical theater announced in a press release that it had been led “to make a difficult decision: the closure of the establishment for six weeks in order to best preserve the activity of the 2023-2024 school year”. Among the productions that fell victim to this downsizing, Cinderella or the grand hotel of dreamsa participatory opera actively involving the younger generations and their families, scheduled for the beginning of April.
Additional subsidies
This sacrifice has since been limited thanks to the very recent release of additional subsidies from the State and the Rouen Normandy Metropolis. Questioned on February 10 by The crossNicolas Mayer-Rossignol, the mayor (PS) of the city, explained “having contacted the Minister of Culture and obtained confirmation of exceptional support of €200,000. This funding has made it possible to put the subject up for debate within the metropolis, which will add €300,000. An effort that we plan to sustain. »
This crisis and the welcome aid that follows bring to light the structural and cyclical weakening of the Opéra de Rouen, which affects other opera houses in France. “Since 2014-2015, our finances have been in difficultyconfirms Loïc Lachenal, its director. Without new funding, activity is doomed to decline, especially since our missions in terms of transmission, audience diversification and mediation, which we all fulfill with conviction, involve costs. »
However, unlike the State budget, that of a public institution “cannot post a deficit and must adapt its expenditure to its income”. So much so that the considerable increase, from 200,000 to 650,000 euros, in the 2023 energy bill risks “capsize” the ship. “While the public is at the rendezvousdeplores Mafalda Kong-Dumas, the general secretary of the Opera. More than 90,000 spectators have passed through our doors over the past four months, 34% of whom are newcomers. A great momentum, regained after the Covid period, which could be compromised. »
A civic opera
The theater teams insist on its civic role, its attractive and controlled pricing policy, far from the stuffy image and the bourgeois interpersonality with which opera is still decked out. “Opera houses still suffer from received ideas, seen by some as ivory towers anchored in the past. There is a lack of understanding around the cost they represent for the local authorities that support them”noted the report of the mission on “The policy of lyrical art in France”, led in 2021 by Caroline Sonrier, the director of the Lille Opera.
Without insisting on the details of the exchanges within the council of the Métropole Rouen Normandie, Nicolas Mayer-Rossignol acknowledges that the 71 municipalities that make it up are not all “convinced that the Opera is necessary. The city of Rouen represents only 25% of the 500,000 inhabitants of the metropolis, in a very rural area. They must therefore be reminded that the lyrical art concerns them too, that the participatory shows affect tens of thousands of children, that the orchestra regularly leaves its walls to give concerts in the communes. » In addition, the city’s candidacy for the label of “European Capital of Culture” in 2028 would hardly accommodate the dereliction of one of its major cultural institutions…
The artistic base
Thanks to this breath of fresh air of €500,000, the Opéra de Rouen will be able to put its juvenile Cinderella participative. « La mObilization of the public partners of the Opéra de Rouen Normandie allows it to announce the re-establishment of the 13th edition of the participatory opera. A first constructive step to take into account the uncertainties that remain on the structural resources of the establishment to maintain sustainablehow it works”announced on February 14 the institution, which now hopes to ward off the threat of closure.
Twelve thousand children and parents will attend the performances scheduled from March 31 to April 7. For Loïc Lachenal, it was urgent to “Get out of this declineist atmosphere that demobilizes the teams and the spectators. Because a house that no longer invests in creation and struggles to maintain the artistic quality of its shows cannot offer enthusiastic and inspiring educational and transmission actions. »
And to recall the specificities of the Norman lyrical establishment. In total, it receives 1.72 million grants less than the average of its counterparts in France. But, conversely, it generates 7.2% more of its own revenue, from ticket sales, the sale of shows on tour and sponsorship. It can also pride itself on attracting 47% more spectators than the average for regional operas.
Another particularity is that its budget is supported mainly by the region, up to 7.6 million euros (against 1.1 million euros for the average of regional opera houses). The State is the second contributor with 1.5 million euros and, finally, the metropolis with 1.3 million euros (compared to 7.9 million euros for the average of regional opera houses).
Impact on the local economy
These figures illustrate the Rouen context and the challenges for the establishment to see increased support from the metropolis in which it is located and where 61% of the tickets purchased come from. Additional argument, the 4.7 million euros of direct economic impact of the Opera on the territory. So much so that, while rejoicing in the financial upturn which relieves it in the short and medium term, its management remains vigilant: “This is of course a first encouraging news, a comfort for the artists and the teams working on this project. for months. But we will be fully relieved that once this mobilization and this ambition confirmed over time. »
Mayor Nicolas Mayer-Rossignol also pleads for this “confirmation over time” but remember that “from the 2000s”, the city has chosen to invest in other cultural facilities, in particular stages dedicated to contemporary music. The Opéra de Rouen is therefore well aware that the economic situation requires tight control of its expenses and the search for ways to save money more than ever. An approach that meets current ecological awareness with, as a corollary, the development of ever more eco-responsible shows.
Savings and environment
Back on the set with Gabriel Méraud-Lanfray, facing the 1,350-seat room arranged in a fan. The technical director likes son theater designed in the early 1960s “in a rather visionary way. It’s a great tool that has only had to undergo improvements over time, but no revolution. The stage cage is beautiful and functional, with large clearances on either side to easily bring the sets in and out. »
If ten technicians are part of the permanent team of the Opera, their workforce is reinforced by additional intermittent workers – up to forty – to carry out the shows. Between singers, instrumentalists of the orchestra (40 permanent musicians), technicians, dressers, make-up artists…, the lyrical art is greedy of means but generous in employment. ” Even ifemphasizes Loïc Lachenal, the salaries of culture are 20 to 25% lower than the national average, as shown by a report by the Court of Auditors published in 2022. Hence, reinforced by the cut and the questioning linked to the Covid, worrying difficulties in recruiting and attracting new generations of professionals. »
In concrete terms, sources of savings are studied and put into practice, such as the co-production of shows by several theaters to pool investment, or the multiplication of “lighter proposals” calling on small artistic and technical teams. However, they cannot become the rule. Behind the scenes, computers have largely supplanted human power to operate sets and lights.
“The lights, here is precisely an area where we can better respect the new environmental dealcontinues Gabriel Méraud-Lanfray. For a long time, the scene was lit by subtraction. Let me explain: on a projector full fire, one applied gelatins in order to attenuate and qualify its power. From now on, by replacing the old systems with LEDs, we will work by addition, spending only the necessary light. »
The cost of replacing the projectors will thus be amortized without, assures the technical director, “the poetry of the shows is not compromised”. While the tertiary decree, relating to the obligations of actions aiming to reduce the energy consumption of buildings of more than 1,000 m2, will be all the better respected.
Pigeons and bees…
It also concerns the administrative premises of the building, its offices and its workshops, which are poorly insulated. “The sobriety milestone to be reached in 2030 requires a diagnosis that we will launch soon”specifies Loïc Lachenal, remarking not without humor that “The heating currently benefits the pigeons on the other side of the windows as much as the staff at the Opera! “. The conclusions of this study are expected for September and will probably recommend “expensive work subject to political decisions and whose implementation will take a few years…”
In terms of eco-responsibility, the cohort of 150,000 bees inhabiting the three hives installed on the roof of the theater is then seen as a modest but symbolic contribution to Rouen’s biodiversity. A sweet drop of honey in the ocean of concerns that agitate the teams of the Opera.
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Dry operas
Since the beginning of 2023, several opera houses have announced a reorganization of their programming, due to financial tensions:
The Opéra du Rhin will only offer one performance of the Conte du Tsar Saltan by Nikolai Andreyevich Rimsky-Korsakov, instead of the two planned, and without staging.
The Rouen Opera must renounce the French creation of The Convert the Wim Henderickx as well as other concerts.
The Montpellier Opera replaces the Scenes from Faust the Schumann with a concert devoted to Requiem He also gave.
“Operas and orchestras are currently caught between subsidies and revenues that are not increasing and rising prices and fixed costs”, summarizes François Bou, general manager of the National Orchestra of Lille and member of the office of the professional union Les Forces musicales. According to this union, 26 lyrical and symphonic productions have been canceled and 126 performances suspended this year.