New (left) and former names and branding for London’s Royal Opera House, home of the Royal Opera and the Royal Ballet.
In Wednesday’s (8/7) Classical Music (U.K.), Michael White writes, “Optics matter these days, even in the arts where sending out the right messages and avoiding the wrong ones has become a tool of survival. And it’s interesting to see how many music organizations have taken this on board so vigorously that they’ve been prepared to spend time and resource on a change of name. The Musician’s Benevolent Fund has become Help Musicians; the MCPS-PRS Alliance has become PRS for Music …; the Sage Gateshead is now The Glasshouse; Colston Hall is now the Bristol Beacon; Aldeburgh Music is Britten Pears Arts. And most recently it’s been announced that the Royal Opera House is henceforth the Royal Ballet and Opera, while St. John’s Smith Square will be Sinfonia Smith Square. Different reasons lie behind these rebrands, but the last two… make useful case studies because they both involve the ditching of familiar, much-loved names in favor of something that suits the objectives of the organization—but maybe not its public. So there’s risk involved, and advocacy needed. With the ROH, the argument is that the existing name signifies a building rather than the activities of the companies who give it life…. Those companies address an audience beyond the building itself.”
