Exclusive: Cressida Pollock to leave English National Opera

Cressida Pollock
Cressida Pollock will step down at the end of ENO's current season Credit: Alex Lentati/Evening Standard/eyevine

The chief executive of English National Opera, Cressida Pollock, is to leave her job three years after she was appointed to rescue the company from financial disaster.

Pollock said she was “greatly saddened” to be leaving. Her departure follows rumours of clashes with Daniel Kramer, ENO’s new artistic director.

The former McKinsey management consultant took over running of the crisis-hit company in September 2015 after Arts Council England placed it in special measures and demanded the recruitment of a leader who would turn the business around.

She succeeded in putting ENO on a more stable footing. It has been readmitted into the Arts Council’s national portfolio, with the funding body saying it no longer has serious concerns about the company’s finances.

She will leave her role at the end of ENO’s current season, in June 2018. In a statement, she said: “I will be greatly saddened to leave this incredible institution, which it has been a privilege to lead.

“I am very proud of our achievements to date and am grateful to the extraordinary people I work alongside. When I arrived, the ENO was in crisis and the company’s survival was in real doubt.

“I am delighted that we have brought stability and secured ENO’s future.”

Harry Brunjes, chairman of ENO, said of Pollock’s departure: “Cressida has turned around our fortunes to deliver financial security, while keeping us on a solid creative footing… We will be sorry to lose her energy and determination to achieve success when she steps down next June.”

The decision to employ a relatively young woman to run a major arts body was seen as controversial at the time, although some financial experts believe that the move ultimately saved the ENO from financial oblivion.

Daniel Kramer
Daniel Kramer, artistic director of ENO, said he and Pollock had learned 'to support each other' Credit: Geoff Pugh

Her successful reordering of the finances has, however, come at a cost with the number of productions this year cut from 11 to eight. She also faced threats of strikes from the chorus.

In an interview in May, Pollock indicated that she initially felt under siege. “I was shouted at a lot. People are upset. They have every right to be upset,” she said.

She admitted earlier this year that she had found it “extremely hard” to cope with hostility from colleagues when she was first appointed, but said she was personally invested in making ENO a success.

“I want to keep coming to this institution, whether I’m running it, or whether I’m just a punter buying a ticket,” she said.

Pollock is now expected to be offered other senior jobs in the arts world after she finally leaves the ENO next year.

Cressida Pollock, the Chief Executive Officer of the English National Opera, in the Coliseum Theatre, St Martins Lane
Cressida Pollock, the Chief Executive Officer of the English National Opera, in the Coliseum Theatre, St Martin's Lane

Kramer, a divisive figure who was appointed artistic director in April, is understood to be remaining at the organisation.

Asked about his working relationship with Pollock in a Telegraph interview, Kramer denied there was any tension. “We have learnt to riff off each other and support each other,” he said.

At the time of her appointment, critics said Pollock was too young (she was then 32), too inexperienced and knew nothing of the arts world.

The opera house was in turmoil, having lost its chairman, executive director, music director and art director in quick succession, and was at risk of closure.

A subsequent music director, Mark Wigglesworth, quit in March last year, saying: “The company is evolving now into something I do not recognise.”

Pollock, a Cambridge graduate with an MBA from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, admitted that she was not an “opera buff” but said she loved the art form and watched her first opera - on VHS - aged five.

She said that some people within ENO didn’t “necessarily want to go into the money”, but that was where her expertise lay.

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