Product Description

In 1988 Jeremy Isaacs took over the job of running the Royal Opera House, and with it he inherited a plan. The Victorian building was to be closed for a massive and controversial redevelopment. Amid the struggle with bureaucracy, the public attack on Covent Garden management and dramatic resignations he brought that plan to fruition.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #753968 in Books
• Published on: 2000-09-01
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 410 pages

Amazon.co.uk Review
After a brilliant career in broadcasting, including time as first chief executive at Channel 4 when he transformed the whole look of British television, Jeremy Isaacs took on the brave task of doing the same for the Royal Opera House, where he served as General Director for nine years. And that proved a rather trickier nut to crack. Opera has always riled the populists and when Covent Garden received £78 million from the National Lottery, everyone in the country seemed to think it was a waste of money. Isaacs did his best but one would have to say his spell there was only a partial success. Nevertheless, for those genuinely fascinated by the ins and outs, the bickerings and back-stabbings of a great opera company, this is a fascinating and ebullient read. There are also some good anecdotes, including one in which Mrs Thatcher stabs him in the chest with her forefinger and says, "This man is the devil." Jeremy has certainly had to suffer for the sake of art. --Christopher Hart

From the Back Cover
In the autum of 1988, Jeremy Isaacs, the founder of Channel Four, took over the job of running the Royal Opera House in Covent Garden. He had ultimate responsibility for one of the great opera and ballet houses of the world, the showplace and the workshop of two unique art forms that were demanding, glamorous - and expensive.

Over the next decade he encountered some of the most famous singers, dancers and conductors in the world. Night after night he saw the miracle of a living work of art take shape, knowing from the inside the skill, labour and sheer physical endurance needed to make it happen. Meanwhile, behind the scenes, he struggled to keep the whole enterprise afloat. For behind the glittering façade, the constant heart-breaking endeavour of making ends meet became his daily battle in a political environment that was largely indifferent, often hostile.

Jeremy Isaacs inherited a plan - the Victorian building was to be closed for a massive and controversial redevelopment - and he brought that plan to fruition. The closure of the House and its consequences - the struggle with bureaucracy, the public attacks on Covent Garden's management, the dramatic resignations - form the climax of a story that is packed with drama, has moments of tragedy and is never far from farce. It is a story of artistic triumph against formidable financial constraints, a compelling account of one of the world's greatest institutions at the end of an era and the beginning of another.

About the Author
Jeremy Isaacs
Jeremy Isaacs was educated at Glasgow Academy and Merton College, Oxford, where he read Classics, was Chairman of the Labour Club, and was elected President of the Oxford Union Society. His education continued in the Highland Light Infantry and the Royal Scots Fusiliers. In 1958 he joined Granada Television. He was Director of Programmes, Thames Television (1974-9) and Founding Chief Executive of Channel Four (1981-7). In 1988 he became General Director of the Royal Opera House, a position he held for nine years. He was made Knight Bachelor in 1996.

Customer Reviews

Day-to-day management also accounts for opera
It is a truth universally acknowledged that there is more to an opera production than just good singing and acting: playing, staging and lots of other artistic aspects are as important. However, among the unseen activities necessary to set up a production is the daily managing work. The author tells in profuse detail about the hardships of directing the Royal Opera House (Covent Garden), a reference in the opera world with very high standards to meet. Any idealist who still believed in opera as the purest form of music, so heavenly that it ought to be completely alien to human strife, will find that politics, intrigue and jealousy play a prominent role. Jeremy Isaacs' tale of nine years at Covent gives us opera lovers a lot to think about... and to thank for. It is a pity music should be a slave to such baseness, though. An enjoyable read.