A year after being told by the Arts Council that it must leave London, English National Opera has announced that it will move its headquarters to Greater Manchester.
The chosen location has been selected from a shortlist of five cities, which also included Birmingham, Bristol, Liverpool and Nottingham. Manchester was always seen as a favourite – not least because it is currently the largest city in Europe without a resident opera company.
Back in November 2033, Arts Council England (ACE) removed ENO from its national funding portfolio, and told the organisation that it would need to move outside the capital to secure future funding. That decision proved controversial, It was a divisive decision, condemned by figures including Melvyn Bragg and Richard Mantle, then general manager of the Leeds-based Opera North.
Following this initial funding cut, ENO was granted a reprieve, and a further year of Arts Council funding, in January 2023. The requirement to move outside London remained, however, in order to secure future funding.
Now, English National Opera has announced a partnership with the Greater Manchester city-region. It has revealed that its new Manchester base will be fully established by March 2029, but that it will stage work across the city in the interim.
ENO also plans to continue staging an annual season at the Coliseum, its London home, until 2029 and beyond.
The move has been welcomed by figures across opera and the arts. 'The news that ENO’s future is assured is an enormous relief to all of us who care for a thriving opera ecology for the country,' said Alex Beard, chief executive of the Royal Opera House.
Laura Canning, Opera North’s general director, said: 'We will be working closely with ENO to ensure that together we can develop audiences for our thrilling art form and ensure that more people across the region can experience the power, resonance and vitality of opera and live performance.'
Pictured: performance of ENO Breathe, a prescribed programme of singing, breathing and wellbeing, designed to help those recovering from the symptoms of COVID-19, which toured the north-west in 2021.