Opera superstar Danielle de Niese was in rehearsals for her new show at English National Opera last week when the devastating news was announced that the Arts Council had pulled all funding from the opera company. “There was shock at first, there was dismay and the feeling that the rug had been pulled out.”
De Niese, dubbed “opera’s coolest soprano” by the New York Times Magazine, is preparing to star in the ENO’s opera adaptation of It’s a Wonderful Life – possibly the archetypal Christmas film – which opens at London’s Coliseum next week. So she has seen close up the impact of the news that the ENO’s £12.8 million a year grant has been removed completely.
