“Almost every singer I know got their first job in the ENO”by Aliya Al-Hassan Nov. 15, 2022

Soprano Danielle De Niese has said that the Arts Council England cuts to English National Opera have been “a huge blow”, in an interview with the London Evening Standard.

De Niese is currently in rehearsals for the ENO’s opera adaptation of It’s a Wonderful Life, which opens at London’s Coliseum next week.

She said: “Almost every singer I know got their first job in the ENO, so if it’s not here, where are they going to go? Where will they tread the boards for the first time? It’s the home of young talent. It’s the home of risk-taking and doing things off the beaten track.”

The singer is married to Gus Christie, executive chairman of Glyndebourne, which has had its funding cut by half. “It will be incredibly difficult for them,” De Niese says. “How can they do a tour with a 50 per cent cut? We don’t know. There are a lot of body blows.”

She says the cuts show a lack of understanding about the art form. She says “It demonstrates a lack of understanding of opera; its history, its value and its contribution to society.”

To read the full interview, click here.

It’s a Wonderful Life is at the London Coliseum from 5 November – 10 December

Photo Credit: Sven Arnstein