The English National Opera has announced that Daniel Kramer, is standing down from his role as artistic director after almost three years.
The company announced that he will leave his position at the end of this season, which comes as a surprise after such a short stint with the ENO. Although he has divided opinions throughout his career, Harry Brünjes, ENO’s chairman, said that ‘Daniel Kramer’s focus on creative artistic output is the underlying reason why our most recent season was both thought provoking and entertaining, as well as commercially successful’.
Kramer is known for his sometimes unusual twists on performances, such as his daringly feminine take on Strauss’s Salome featuring controversial costumes. Some of his other recent projects have included Turn of the Screw, Porgy and Bess and Iolanthe.
The American director first worked with the ENO in 2008 when he directed Punch and Judy, and again the following year with Duke Bluebeard’s Castle, before being appointed to his permanent role in 2016 alongside music director Martyn Brabbins.
Despite joining the ENO in the midst of arts funding cuts, Kramer has broken box office records throughout his tenure. He said he is now leaving his role to focus on his freelance work, such as directing Britten's War Requiem in Taiwan and Puccini's La bohème and John Adams's Nixon in China closer to home in Europe.
Kramer is due to step down from his role in July this year, but will continue to work with the ENO until the end of 2019 to complete his work on the four-part Orpheus series being performed at the London Coliseum between 1 October and 29 November. Kramer commissioned works by Gluck, Offenbach, Birtwistle and Glass, which take the audience through the different composers’ interpretations on the Greek mythological character.