“Opera is about people” - Meet Richard, a teenage audience member turned lifelong supporter

As we continue marking 80 years of Welsh National Opera Cenedlaethol Cymru, we spoke to Richard Brooks – a lifelong opera lover and generous supporter of WNO – about his lifelong love affair with the art form, and his hopes for the future generations of opera performers, audiences, and participants.

Richard’s relationship with opera began when he was just 14 when he saw a production at a theatre in Croydon. With Glyndebourne being close to his aunt's home, opera became a regular fixture in his life and, eight decades on, is now a deeply rooted part of who he is – as well as a defining thread of his marriage to his wife, Sheila.

Alongside Sheila, he travelled the world for his career as a noise engineer with Rolls-Royce Aero-Engines, taking every opportunity to experience live performances in iconic, open-air venues like Verona, Italy, as well as historic houses in Vienna and Salzburg.

“Through my years of travelling for work, I gained the confidence for ‘fly-drive’ holidays in the USA, which included the visit to Santa Fe Opera,” Richard said, “A picnic meal in the scorching heat of the opera house car park is somewhat different to the Glyndebourne equivalent.

“The above anecdote partly accounts for my and my wife’s love of opera: the ability to go to many interesting foreign cities, preferably the location of good opera houses!”

It is safe to say that Richard is far from a casual fan. His relationship with WNO spans decades, having first seen the Company perform at Bristol Hippodrome while working in the city.

“I put together a list of the number of WNO performances, which I had personally been to, and the number was 64,” Richard says, “Maybe that goes some way to establishing my credentials!”

While Richard's list of operas he has enjoyed is vast, he explains how his favourite is not one many would mention or have seen, Beethoven's Fidelio: “It’s about a husband and wife – an enduring love between them, where she risks everything to save him.”

A favourite made all the more poignant given Richard and Sheila’s life together, travelling the world and experiencing opera as a couple.

Despite Fidelio being his favourite, he continues – in his own words - to “lobby” WNO to perform Donizetti’s Lucia di Lammermoor, another one of his favourites.

“Aida is one opera I have seen in Verona in the open-air Forum, it was quite the experience,” Richard added. “I’m keen for WNO to perform it!”

For Richard, the true magic of the opera extends beyond the music and the staging: it is the community and the personal relationships he has forged over almost eight decades of following the art form that he values the most.

“One of the features of Welsh National Opera is how friendly everybody is,” he said, “Opera is about people. It's about music as well, but people make music. So, it is the personal contact which I really appreciate.”

Now at 92, Richard is looking to the next generation of artists: “My wife and I established a bursary for upcoming artists with Welsh National Opera. We want to ensure the next generations are well provided for – opera is an expensive hobby!”

We are forever grateful to Richard and Sheila for their extraordinary generosity, kindness and friendship towards WNO. Their significant support has given life-changing opportunities to many, and its impact will be felt for generations to come.