Alex Wood – London
13 April 2026
De Niese picked up an Olivier Award for Outstanding Contribution to Opera
Opera star and Olivier Award winner Danielle De Niese has given her two cents on Timothée Chalamet’s comments about the worlds of opera and dance.
Earlier this year, Chalamet was lambasted for remarks made in a filmed interview posted by Variety, where he said: “I don’t want to be working in ballet or opera, or things where it’s like, ‘Hey, keep this thing alive, even though no one cares about this anymore.’”
The words sparked outcry from the arts community, with many dance and opera companies criticising Chalamet for undermining their professions.
Chatting to us at the Olivier Awards, De Niese, who picked up the award for Outstanding Contribution to Opera, had a more nuanced approach to Chalamet’s remarks, and what they reflect about today’s society.
She initially said she was reluctant to get involved, adding: “a lot of people said a lot”, but then said she “was requested repeatedly to comment on it. And actually, the first thing that I wanted to do was read the context and find out what the context was, and on first listen, I kind of thought, hang on a minute, Timothée Chalamet is actually just fighting for the cinematic experience in a way that the cinematic industry is fighting for the movie theatre experience against the streamers who make it so easy for us to watch at home.”
Australian-American lyric soprano De Niese rose to international stardom through her breakthrough 2005 performance as Cleopatra in Giulio Cesare at the Glyndebourne Festival Opera. Her West End credits include Aspects of Love and Man of La Mancha.
This led her to the conclusion: “We’re in the same boat, actually, because all art forms need to, not necessarily fight to survive, but more continue to thrive and continue to find ways to flourish, because there are more art forms than ever before. Why? Why are there more art forms? Because we are becoming an ever more inclusive society. So this is a great thing that we have so many different types and styles of music – styles I don’t know yet, because I haven’t gone to the far flung corners.”
De Niese says the whole debacle should therefore be perceived as an opportunity for the future: “That’s the thing that I think should be the real focus. We need to give young people an opportunity to experience lots of different art forms, and then through that experience and that access, they can find a unique home where they belong. If we keep closing the doors and narrowing it, it becomes very difficult for people to feel that they have access [to the arts] and they have a place that appeals to their own particular personality. So I think ultimately we’re all in the same boat. But perhaps he didn’t express himself in the right way.”