Meet the unheralded American introducing African talent onto global opera stages

My introduction to Cape Town Opera came via a soiree at Bonhams, the London Auctioneering house which operates at the very top end of its market. The patronage of mining mogul Mick Davis ensured an evening of high quality South African voices followed by a well supported fund raising auction. Opera is an acquired taste…….with those who’ve been bitten prepared to travel a long way to enjoy its unique treats. But with its Italian heritage, opera is not the kind of thing you’d expect to find in a developing country with very different musical roots. At least I didn’t before meeting the American who runs Cape Town Opera at my office at WeWork on London’s South Bank. Elise Brunelle served South Africa’s largest permanent non-profit performing arts organisation for almost a decade as its financial manager before taking over as the acting managing director in February succeeding Michael Williams was poached by the Buxton International Festival, one of the leading events of its type in the UK. Williams had been with the CTO as insiders call it, for 28 years. He and Brunelle worked closely together to install a sustainable business model. She tells us all about it in this fascinating look at the business of the arts.