Craig Hassall has refuted claims that OA is selling its Melbourne Opera Centre to ease financial pressures.

Opera Australia CEO Craig Hassall has today refuted allegations that the sale of its current offices in Melbourne is in response to recommendations made in the recently released discussion paper of the National Opera Review.

An article published on Friday by the Daily Review claimed that Opera Australia was “cashing out of Melbourne,” and that the Southbank-based Opera Centre had been “quietly put on the market” in an apparent bid to ease financial shortfalls. However Hassall today rejected those claims, confirming that the sale of the Melbourne offices and rehearsal rooms had been publically announced with a press release from Opera Australia, and that the company’s finances had not been a factor in its decision to sell. The Daily Review article also suggested that the move to sell up in Melbourne had been prompted by conclusions outlined in the recently published discussion paper of the National Opera Review, which has been investigating the artistic and financial health of Australia’s four most heavily subsidised opera companies. However Hassall said the sale had “absolutely nothing to do with the National Opera Review,” but was in fact a decision made to take advantage of the particularly buoyant property market in central Melbourne. “Our neighbour in Melbourne was keen to sell as well and so the opportunity of having two sites co-joined to sell was obviously a sensible choice financially,” he said. The dual property has been valued at approximately $25 million.

However, while Hassall has rejected claims that the sale of the company’s real estate assets in Melbourne was being made in a bid to improve the accounts of the company, Opera Australia’s 2014 Annual Report released in May showed the company registered a loss of over $900,000, despite increasing the number of attendees at its performances. The National Opera Review’s 341 page discussion paper released two weeks ago suggested that the sale of property holdings might be a viable solution to Opera Australia’s financial difficulties, as well as suggesting that Opera Australia withdraw from Melbourne to allow Victorian Opera to be the primary opera company in Victoria.

Despite the apparent parallels between the National Opera Review’s content and sale of Opera Australia’s Melbourne offices Hassall was adamant that there was no connection between the two. “It is absolutely unrelated. It’s completely to do with the market division in Melbourne at the moment. That is the sole reason for our position to sell,” he said. “This decision was taken several months before the discussion paper was produced by the Opera Review, so there’s absolutely no correlation at all between those things.”

Far from diminishing its presence in Melbourne, Hassall said that not only would Opera Australia remain in the city, but it would be looking to secure larger premises. “We will certainly have a new home in Melbourne. We would like a space larger than the one we are currently selling because we have more requirement to rehearse in Melbourne than previously, with things like the 2016 Ring Cycle coming up,” Hassall said. The OA boss also emphasised the Melbourne Opera Centre’s role as a hub for other arts organisations in the city. “It’s a great resource to the small-to-medium sector. We rent out our spaces at a reduced community rate to smaller organisations and we’re keen to continue doing that. We also have Short Black Opera as a resident company in our Melbourne Opera Centre and we will continue to have them as our resident company in the future as well.”

For now Opera Australia will remain in its current location on the Southbank, but even after the sale of the Opera Centre the company have a lease to continue using the building for a further three years before it needs to vacate.