English National Opera reveals first Manchester plans

The English National Opera has announced its first productions and plans for Manchester after being forced to relocate out of London.

In 2022, the prestigious opera company was controversially told to leave the capital or lose its £12m annual Arts Council England subsidy, as part of an attempt to "level up" arts funding.

The ENO now says it will be "firmly established" in Greater Manchester by 2029.

But it will start working in the city before that, with productions at the Lowry, Bridgewater Hall and Aviva Studios from 2025, and plans for a mass singing project with local grassroots football teams.

It has announced:

The ENO will also form a new Greater Manchester Youth Opera Company for people aged 13 to16, and will set up a scheme to develop "new voices and stories in opera".

The football initiative, titled Perfect Pitch, will "explore the impact that mass singing has on team performance and spectator experience", the company said.

ENO artistic director Annilese Miskimmon said the move would begin "a bold and confident future for opera in the UK".

Chief executive Jenny Mollica said Greater Manchester was “a region of limitless creative possibilities”, which would allow the company to “explore new visions for the future of opera”.

The productions staged in Manchester will range from "larger scale traditional opera to more experimental work to more intimate and chamber work", and would allow the company to reach "a wider range of audiences", she said.