I can see why Opera COSTS more; in addition to the singers' fees, there's a big orchestra and conductor, and then there's all the sets and costumes and the big venue itself, typically a theatre-like thing, and all the rehearsal-time to make sure the whole thing hangs together for half a dozen performances. Whereas traditional music typically has only one or two singers performing at any one time, and maybe a group of a dozen instrumentalists, and sometimes they are all participating for free anyway. But what's the justification for Scottish taxpayers' money being used to PAY for all this elaborate stuff to a much greater amount than traditional music and song gets? After all, with few exceptions, the stuff that's put on in Glasgow and Edinburgh is Italian, French or German, and "Maria Stuarda" or "Lucia di Lammermoor" is the closest any of the material gets to Scotland. Who decides that all the frippery is so essential that it deserves to be supported to this grossly inflated extent?