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Last Tuesday, a patron at the Royal Opera House was banned after heckling an opening night performance by 12-year-old soprano Malakai Bayoh. He had been singing alongside Toronto\u2019s Emily D\u2019Angelo in the role of Oberto in Handel\u2019s opera Alcina.<\/p>\n
One onlooker described the scene via the\u00a0Telegraph<\/a>.<\/p>\n Bayoh began singing a beautiful, heartfelt aria about the death of his father. It wasn\u2019t long until an elderly man in the audience started yelling, \u201cRubbish!\u201d \u201cThis is awful, this isn\u2019t singing\u201d [\u2026] \u201cThis is an opera house.\u201d<\/p>\n A credit to Bayoh\u2019s training, he kept singing. At the end of his aria, the audience erupted in applause, drowning out the man\u2019s heckling.<\/p>\n It is not clear if he left on his own or was asked to leave by the staff of the Royal Opera House, but the man was seen leaving during intermission.<\/p>\n After the show, word started to spread across social media over what transpired.<\/p>\n The Royal Opera House responded via\u00a0Twitter<\/a>:<\/p>\n \u201cUnfortunately, the opening night of Alcina featured an audience member who disrupted the show and the excellent performance by young singer Malakai M Bayoh. We are appalled that a member of the audience behaved in this way, and steps have been taken to ensure the audience member in question does not return to the Royal Opera House.\u201d<\/p>\n The Guardian critic Martin Kettle added another\u00a0take<\/a>\u00a0on the situation.<\/p>\n \u201cWhat happened at Covent Garden on Tuesday evening, however, wasn\u2019t booing but heckling,\u201d writes Kettle. \u201cIt was repeated and mean-spirited barracking during a touching and plaintive aria about the loss of a father. Most disturbingly of all, it was the heckling of a child.\u201d<\/p>\nCrossing the line<\/strong><\/h3>\n
Renewed debate<\/strong><\/h3>\n