English National Opera has chosen Greater Manchester as its future home, a year after funders said it must move its base out of London.
The company had a shortlist of five places where it was considering setting up a new headquarters, with Manchester, the biggest city in Europe without a resident opera company, always the favourite. Other cities in the running were Birmingham, Bristol, Liverpool and Nottingham.
The announcement of the move was made a year after Arts Council England (ACE) removed ENO from the national portfolio and said future funding would be dependent on moving outside London.
It was a divisive decision, condemned as “cultural vandalism” by Melvyn Bragg and an “ill-thought-through idea” by Richard Mantle, then general manager of the Leeds-based Opera North.
ACE later agreed a partial funding reprieve and gave ENO until 2029 to relocate.
On Tuesday, ENO said it had agreed a partnership with the Greater Manchester city-region.
The company said it was excited by “the potential opportunities to collaborate with the region’s vibrant arts ecology, and the chance to inspire and create work with and for new audiences and communities in Greater Manchester”.
Andy Burnham, the mayor of Greater Manchester, said ENO was “one of the most exciting cultural institutions” in the UK and there was pride in being able to bring them to its new home.
“We’ve worked closely with them to set out a shared vision for a future in our city-region, where they can continue making groundbreaking opera, foster new collaborations with artists across the north and bring their award-winning learning and wellbeing programmes to communities here.
“Greater Manchester’s world-renowned history of radical art, activism, and affecting change, and the cultural renaissance taking place across our towns and cities, makes it the ideal home for the ENO. We can’t wait to welcome them and see where this new partnership takes us.”
Those sentiments were echoed by Bev Craig, the leader of Manchester city council, who said that the region was a “perfect fit” for ENO, and Paul Dennett, the city mayor of Salford.
“Manchester today is completely unrecognisable from what it was just a few decades ago,” Craig said. “The city has transformed itself over the last 30 years into one of Europe’s fastest growing cities with the largest creative economy in Europe after London.
“We’re a city that puts culture and the arts centre-stage and the impact of this can be seen in the audience numbers, range of venues, skills pipeline and local talent that already exists here in abundance.”
ENO said its new base would be fully established by March 2029 but it would stage work across Greater Manchester before then. It would also continue to have a “substantial” annual season, up to and beyond 2029, at the Coliseum in London, which it owns.
The move has been welcomed by arts leaders in Greater Manchester. Julia Fawcett, the chief executive of the Lowry arts centre in Salford, said her organisation was “absolutely thrilled”, and John McGrath, the chief executive of Factory International, said he was delighted.
“We look forward to developing a number of exciting new co-productions together, and to presenting these ambitious explorations of the future of opera across the coming years.”
The news has also been welcomed by senior figures in the opera world. Alex Beard, the chief executive of the Royal Opera House, said: “The news that ENO’s future is assured is an enormous relief to all of us who care for a thriving opera ecology for the country.”
Laura Canning, Opera North’s general director, said: “We will be working closely with ENO to ensure that together we can develop audiences for our thrilling art form and ensure that more people across the region can experience the power, resonance and vitality of opera and live performance.”
