Ticket price cap to win new ROH audiences

The head of the Royal Opera House is to cap ticket prices for some operas at £50 as part of a strategy to bring new audiences to Covent Garden and bury its élitist image. Normally, top price can be as high as £155.

Other plans include relaying live performances on to big screens in parks and public squares outside London.

Tony Hall, executive director of the Royal Opera House, who is from the north, says that people who don't live in the south need the opportunity to see work they help to pay for.

Mr Hall, who has been at the helm at Covent Garden just over a year, outlines his plans in an interview with The Independent today. To bring families into the opera house, he has introduced cheaper food and, for the first time, a children's menu.

He willsend education teams to cities where big-screen relays take place to encourage children to bring their parents. And he says he will continue to stage pop and other non-operatic performances on Sundays to bring in new audiences who might then experiment with opera and ballet.

Next month sees a parade on stage of the Notting Hill Carnival costumes. September will see a concert by Elton John.