THE British director of Opera Australia, which stages the Sydney Opera House’s productions, has been accused of fostering a culture of favouritism by using too many British artists.

Richard Hickox, 60, has also been accused by local opera singers of ageism, bullying, “un-Australian” activities and presiding over declining musical standards that have plunged the company’s productions into an “abyss of mediocrity”.

The bitter row has split Australia’s cultural establishment. Hickox’s board has been forced to issue a statement backing the director after 33 members of the company joined a protest against him.

“Opera arouses the most incredible passions,” said Hickox last week in response to his critics. “These people are incredibly frustrated. But rejection is one of the first lessons that artists have to learn . . . It’s not the fault of ogre-like Hickox sitting in his chair hating someone . . . I don’t hate anyone.”

The row began in April when Fiona Janes, the distinguished Australian mezzo-soprano whom Hickox had refused to cast, wrote a blistering 3,700-word letter to the board, claiming Hickox “has absolutely no idea how to conduct main-stream operatic repertoire and an obvious limited ability in all else. He gets polite applause, ordinary reviews and incites nothing but fear among the entire company”.

Janes, 43, alleged that no woman over 40 would be considered for a role at the opera house and suggested that foreigners were being favoured over Australian artists.

“I believe the careers of some of our finest singers are being sabotaged because of this man’s desire to boost the careers of his overseas mates, his ageist, sexist agenda and his desire to have cheap, pretty young men and women grace the operatic stage even if they are not vocally right for the roles,” she wrote.

She took issue with Hickox’s decision to cast his wife, Pamela Stephen, the British mezzo-soprano, in several prominent roles. “A singer who only works when her husband gives her the work – isn’t that nepotism?” said Janes.

The 33 employees – 11 of whom remained anonymous – sent letters to Opera Australia supporting Janes. One was the prominent Australian singer Kirsti Harms, also in her forties, who alleged that Hickox’s methods were “un-Australian” – one of the worst insults.

“He swept into the country in cavalier fashion and made Opera Australia an outpost of the English National Opera,” she alleged. “He has reinvented the cultural cringe.”

In an interview with The Sunday Times, Hickox, who has won acclaim for his recordings of modern British composers and who has led the company for the past three years, angrily dismissed the charge that he was anti-Australian, calling it “bizarre”.

“Why would I move here? I love Australia,” he said. He also defended casting his wife – “She is not only vocally gifted but is the most consummate actress” – and vehemently denied the charge of bullying.

The opera’s board has offered its “unqualified support” for Hickox and “categorically refuted all claims” against him.

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