ENO musicians to strike for first time in 40 years over contracts

ENGLISH National Opera (ENO) musicians will strike for the first time in 40 years over plans to put performers on part-time contracts.

The company has been dogged by controversy since Arts Council England announced in 2022 its funding would be cut, and the ensemble would be relocated outside London.

Members are now set to walk out in protest against plans to downsize the company and rehire players on parttime contracts.

The Musician’s Union has announced strike action will begin on Feb 1, in what is the first ENO walkout since a protest against planned BBC cuts to its orchestras in 1980.

Martyn Brabbins, the music director, quit the company in October over concerns that plans to cut orchestral roles and put remaining performers on parttime contracts amounted to “managed decline”. Naomi Pohl, general secretary of the Musician’s Union, warned that “individual musicians might be looking for alternative work” because “it’s hard to see how they will make ends meet with half a job”.

The Arts Council decision to cut all ENO funding was later softened, with the company provided with financial support on the condition that it move its main base outside of London.

Lord Sumption, a board member, resigned in protest at the plans in June and warned that moving the ENO away from a location with a large audience for classical music would effectively be a “death sentence”.

He predicted that staff would be unwilling or unable to relocate from London, leaving its survival in the hands of part-time musicians, as it split its time between the capital and a future base that is yet to be decided.

‘Musicians might look for alternative work as it’s hard to see how they will make ends meet with half a job’