Can the English National Opera be saved?

ENO is in crisis. There must be a strong case now for dissolving the entire organisation, says Rupert Christiansen

London Coliseum English National Opera
London Coliseum: ENO's 'uneconomic' base Credit: Photo: Reuters

For at least the fifth time in the last 15 years, English National Opera is in severe crisis, following the resignations within days of both its new Chairman Martyn Rose and its even newer Chief Executive Henriette Götz, caused by a breakdown in their relations with the long-serving Artistic Director John Berry. The vacuum this leaves should put the question of the company's longer-term future to the top of the agenda of its life-support system – Arts Council England, the Treasury and the taxpayer.

English National Opera adheres to a business model that does not function. Sticking-plaster measures keep failing, as the seams split ever deeper along the fault-lines of low levels of audience and box-office takings, a lack of secondary income streams, extravagant expenditure on prestige projects, and a home in the London Coliseum which is economically and structurally inefficient. There must be a strong case now for dissolving the entire organisation and starting again on a completely different basis.

Over the last decade, John Berry has been a flamboyant impresario of Diaghilev-like ambition, hit and miss in his aim but sometimes notably successful in signing up big-name directors and developing co-productions. Casting has improved on his watch too, and orchestral standards have been extremely high under the musical direction of Edward Gardner (who leaves this summer). Berry has also devised some bold but expensive plans to improve the Coliseum’s facilities and build a new administrative and production centre to replace the current ragbag of premises that house rehearsal and storage.

While he had the trust of Götz’s super-tough predecessor Loretta Tomasi, these achievements helped Berry to maintain his credibility. But recent draconian budget cuts and his failure to bond with Henriette Götz – who by all accounts was entirely realistic about the company’s precarious financial position – will prove fatal, and like some capricious Roman emperor in his last days, he clings to supreme power only at the cost of alienating his deputies and colleagues. The pathetically spineless board continues to back him because it is scared that some big names will embarrassingly quit in sympathy if he is sacked, but he will have to go sooner rather than later if the company is to be properly administrated. And in the light of Götz’s experience, it is hard to imagine any competent manager in their right minds prepared to take up that task.

Arts Council England has already cut ENO’s grant substantially, signalling its desire to see it change track and become smaller, leaner and more productive and profitable. Forcing it to confront even harsher realities will be an acid test for ACE’s incoming Chief Executive Darren Henley.