In its latest salvo in a growing row over the future of opera, the English National Opera has accused Arts Council England of making a “howling mistake” over its decision to slash the company’s funding to zero.
Stuart Murphy, ENO’s chief executive, said the body had deployed “baffling narratives” since its edict that ENO must move outside London in order to be eligible for grants in the future.
His comments, in an article for the Guardian, were in response to a call by Darren Henley, Arts Council England’s chief executive, for opera to be performed in car parks and pubs rather than grand venues if it wanted a future.
Murphy also referred to a blog by Claire Mera-Nelson, the Arts
Council’s director of music, that said the organisation had “seen almost no growth in audience demand for traditionally staged ‘grand’ or large-scale opera”.
Murphy said: “If the data exists, I would love to see it.” Since September, 6,000 tickets had been provided by ENO free for under-21s or heavily discounted for under-35s.
He said ENO had proven its willingness to evolve, performing a drive-in opera with beatbox performers and breakdancers, and a TikTok opera that had been watched by 17 million people.
Without continued funding, Murphy said, ENO risked “becoming exactly what they don’t want us to be – an organisation for the local elite who can afford to pay £300 for a ticket. This is not what the ENO stands for.”
A petition set up by the opera singer Bryn Terfel calling on the arts council to reverse its decision had been signed by more than 44,000 people by Tuesday morning.
Workers in the arts sector this week demonstrated outside Arts Council England’s offices in London and Manchester in protests organised by Equity, the union for performers and creative practitioners.
Murphy said: “Thousands upon thousands of people see the ENO for what it is – one of the many unique and remarkable success stories of British culture, whose sole aim of bringing opera to everyone is continually being reimagined for generation after generation.
“The Arts Council has made a howling mistake and the sooner it corrects it, the better.”
