Majority of ENO chorus ‘likely to quit’ if organisation moves

Most chorus members at the English National Opera (ENO) will be forced to leave their jobs with the company if it relocates outside London, a survey has found.

Three-quarters of the chorus, which is made up of 34 permanent employees and three on contracts, responded to a survey put out by performers' union Equity.

The findings, reported by the Guardian, show that 82.1% said they would have to leave their jobs if ENO relocated full-time or for the majority of time outside London, citing ties including children at school, caring responsibilities, and partners with jobs in the capital.

Only 21.4% said they would be able to move out of London part-time if ENO split its time between the Coliseum and another city. In this scenario, 75% said they would have to leave their jobs at ENO, with six in 10 saying they would leave the profession altogether.

Paul W Fleming, Equity’s General Secretary, said: “By pulling the rug from under the ENO, Arts Council England is asking a long-established workforce to upend their whole lives, for a vague promise of potential work, written in the sand.

“This highly skilled, diverse and world renowned chorus is expected to suddenly move to an unknown place, for an unknown reason by the Arts Council, who seem to have made this baffling decision with zero thought for its consequences for the workforce, the audience and the ability of people across the UK to access opera.”

A spokesperson for ENO said: “The ENO has made clear that to help support the government’s and ACE’s levelling up agenda we should sustain our base at the London Coliseum while increasing our activity out of London.

“At a proper funding level this would allow us to maintain our world-class chorus and orchestra and we continue to ask ACE [and the government] to recognise this to protect the livelihoods of this brilliantly talented group of people.”