English National Opera has revealed that Mark Wigglesworth has resigned as music director and will leave at the end of the current season.
Wigglesworth, 51, joined the London-based opera company only in September, taking over from Ed Gardner, whose time in charge had been deemed a success despite ENO going through difficult times. Since Wigglesorth began, ENO has continued to lurch from crisis to crisis, the most recent being the revelation that cuts to the company's chorus were being considered, followed by threats of a staff strike. Performances on stage, in contrast, have been largely successful.
Wigglesworth's resignation is just the latest in a trail of ENO misery over the last two years that has seen it part company with its chairman Martyn Rose and artistic director John Berry. The company has also been put under special measures in terms of its public funding by Arts Council England.
Though Cressida Pollock, ENO's chief executive, yesterday revealed her manifesto to save the company, it would appear on first glance that the music director himself was not entirely convinced. Wigglesworth is declining to comment at this time.
