THE Royal Opera House has stripped the name of its most high-profile benefactor from its young artists’ programme after the multimillionaire philanthropist failed to deliver on pledges.
The board of the opera house gave up hope that Alberto Vilar would make good on promises of funds after he was charged last month with stealing millions of dollars from a participant in his investment fund.
Mr Vilar was released from jail on bail in the United States on Monday after he raised $4 million (£2.2 million) in property against a $10 million bond. He denies any wrongdoing.
The Vilar Young Artists Programme has been renamed the Jette Parker Young Artists Programme in honour of the chair of the Oak Foundation, a philanthropic organisation set up by Alan M Parker, one of Britain’s richest self-made millionaires.
The Covent Garden opera house decided to remove Mr Vilar’s name after he stopped paying for the programme in March 2002.
Advertisement
The board will also consider whether to strip his name from the Vilar Floral Hall, awarded for a pledge of £10 million to the opera house’s development appeal. He gave an undisclosed sum to the appeal — believed to be up to £5 million — but did not deliver the full amount towards an endowment fund.
A Covent Garden spokesman said that the issue would be discussed at the next board meeting on July 13. “At the present time it is called the Vilar Floral Hall but it is inevitable there will be some discussion about it, but that hasn’t happened yet,” he said.
He added that the removal of his name was not related to the fraud allegations but to the non-payment of funds.
“We have informed him of this. He was understanding about it. It has been a very successful programme and it would not have got off the ground without his help. But it is very difficult [to keep his name] when someone else comes along and wants to sponsor the programme,” he said.