The English National Opera (ENO) was in chaos on Sunday after its music director quit suddenly in protest against funding cuts.
Martyn Brabbins resigned, saying proposals by management in the wake of Arts Council England “interference” would “drive a coach and horses” through the organisation’s artistic integrity.
In a war of words, the ENO responded by saying it was disappointed he had chosen to resign rather than support the company.
The organisation said this week that it was cutting 19 posts and employing its remaining musicians on part-time contracts, to the fury of the Musicians’ Union.
It follows an announcement by Arts Council England announced in 2022 that the ENO – based at the London Coliseum – would lose 100 per cent of its £12 million funding unless it moved out of the capital, presenting the choice between relocating and effectively “closing down”, according to critics of the decision.
It later backtracked on its plans to force a relocation after an outcry from UK musicians and ensembles, including British conductor Sir Simon Rattle, who said music funding cuts were tearing at “the flesh of our culture”.
Mr Brabbins has been the music director for seven years.
‘Managed decline’
He said in a statement: “I cannot in all conscience continue to support the board and management’s strategy for the future of the company.
“While my feelings on this have been developing for some time, it reached its nadir this week, with the internal announcement of severe cuts to its orchestra and chorus from 2024-25 season.
“In protest, this afternoon I tendered my resignation with immediate effect.
“Although making cuts has been necessitated by Arts Council England’s interference in the company’s future, the proposed changes would drive a coach and horses through the artistic integrity of the whole of ENO as a performing company, while also singularly failing to protect our livelihoods.”
He added: “This is a plan of managed decline, rather than an attempt to rebuild the company and maintain the world-class artistic output, for which ENO is rightly famed.”
The row has been escalating over the past few months, with Lord Jonathan Sumption, the former supreme court judge, resigning from the board of the ENO in June over the plans to force it to relocate outside of London.
He said in his resignation letter that Arts Council England was a “philistine” organisation which has “emasculated” ENO.
Writing to the director for the English National Opera, he stated: “ENO will become a mere brand-name for a fringe offering, a pale imitation of the real thing that we have been putting on in London for decades.
“Our advertisements used to promise ‘magnificent opera, sung in English’. What is now proposed is a travesty of our values, our traditions and our achievements.”
ENO response
A statement by the ENO on Sunday night said: “The ENO is surprised that Martyn Brabbins has decided to end his tenure as music director so abruptly.
“As a member of the ENO’s senior leadership, Martyn has been party to all key discussions at all stages and the extremely difficult decisions that have to be made by the Board and Management in constrained financial circumstances.
“After nine months of negotiation with Arts Council England, the ENO has reached a position where we are confident we can maintain a substantial level of operatic work – as opposed to the original reality of total redundancy across the entire company (following Art Council England’s previous decision to remove the ENO as a National Portfolio Organisation in November 2022).
“As recorded in board minutes, an all-staff meeting and in correspondence with management and the board, Martyn agreed that the position reached with Arts Council England in July 2023 provides a workable outcome.
“As the ENO’s musical leader, we are disappointed that Martyn has chosen to resign rather than support the company by engaging with the process of creating a sustainable future for the ENO.”
Mr Brabbins is the organisation’s second successive music director to quit amid budget cuts.
His predecessor, Mark Wigglesworth, unexpectedly resigned in 2016 because the company was “evolving into something I do not recognise”.
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October 16, 2023 at 05:14AM
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