More trouble at ENO

[bluestateprommer]

Whatever Wigglesworth's abilities as a conductor - and in spite of his experience - his track record, at least recently, suggests that he's a resigner rather than somebody who sticks it out. He resigned from the Monnaie before even taking up the post, and now he's resigned from ENO very near the start of his tenure, and at a time when the company desperately needs a Music Director to give it stability and boost morale. He must have known the situation he was getting into when he took the job, and to quit now looks like self-preservation. It's certainly not going to help the musicians of ENO.

This is a sentiment that probably won't win points with pro-Wigglesworth partisans like David Nice, but from the very little that I know of the ENO situation and also Wigglesworth's past general history, it is a good point to raise. Plus, your choice of the word "resigner" has a harsher counterpart that we Americans would probably use in this situation, namely "quitter", as in this bit of cheap motivational sloganeering that is probably in more than one self-help book:

"Quitters never win, and winners never quit."

Of course, like most cheap slogans, this isn't true in all cases, but you get the point here in this particular instance. Without a full-time music director to advocate for the orchestra and the chorus, if Cressida Pollock is really the 'villainess' that the David Nices of the world regard her as, then Wigglesworth quitting and basically leaving the musicians in the lurch removes one more barrier against possible further damage that Pollock might inflict on them. The chorus obviously made a painful sacrifice in accepting the reduced contract, and avoiding a strike. Per Flosshilde's comment, if Wigglesworth's economizing proposals were all about less elaborate costumes and sets, i.e. all about stage business with no sacrifice from the musicians (or himself) in terms of salary, perhaps, then one has to wonder. There's no indication that maybe Wigglesworth was willing to accept a salary reduction, or if the orchestra offered to turn back a small % of their annual salary, e.g. something like a 3% salary reduction, to toss a random number out there.

Plus, in the Grauniad report from Mark Brown & Imogen Tilden, I saw this bit (emphasis mine):

"While offstage at the ENO it has been turmoil, onstage it has been a period of striking artistic success, including record box-office figures for Philip Glass’s Akhnaten, which is the company’s most successful contemporary opera to date, playing to a 96% occupancy."

If the chorus' recent contract sacrifice and strong box office for Akhnaten are truly indicative of a potential turnaround for ENO, then Wigglesworth dropping the bombshell of his resignation now is also perfectly badly timed to throw everything back into chaos, which sounds like the worst possible thing to do to ENO at this time. Plus, if ENO actually does announce a new artistic director soon, that would be another step towards possible increased stabilty/reduced instability. Maybe Wigglesworth genuinely thinks that he's standing on principle against Pollock and the board's budget axe maneuvers. Unfortunately, taking what makropulos said a step further, I can't help but wonder if MW is hitting the wrong target with his resignation. Plus, in this context, even if ENO hasn't gone completely belly up soon and ceased to exist soon, which conductor would want to be the next ENO music director? That is, unless Pollock thinks they can hire a young, relatively cheap conductor who's a bit of a pushover administratively.

[Flosshilde]

I have read (not sure where - possibly the i article I mentioned above) that Cressida Pollock has taken a 30% cut in her salary. Pretty substantial, and a good example of 'leading from the front'. Of course, a 30% cut in her salary would probably leave her with more than enough to live on (I've no idea what her salary is), unlike the cuts proposed/made to the chorus members' salary.

[Darkbloom]

Has there ever been a time when ENO hasn't been in a crisis, or near enough as makes no difference? Perhaps in the Jonas/Elder years, although I am sure they were never as blissful as people like to present them. I stopped going to ENO shortly after the renovation. There was something endearing about the place before the overhaul - it was shabby but you felt it was making the best of what it had. I used to buy day seats for £2.50 and saw a greater range of works at that time than I ever have since (composers like Massenet, Spontini and Prokofiev, for example), so I am one of many whose experiences at ENO were genuinely formative. But it feels like it lost its way a long time ago. Whenever I check their site occasionally I am amazed at the prices they are charging now, even for the cheap seats, which are going to deter all but the converted to give it a go. The great thing about ENO was that it was the cheapest night out in the West End, and sometimes you got to hear genuine stars like John Tomlinson or Simon Keenlyside. The performances were often very good too, and I can't remember hearing a finer version of Pelleas than their version with Richard Jones back in the '90s. While the ROH might seem intimidating for the neophyte, ENO was there to help you clamber up the foothills. It was accessible in the best sense, without the patronising connotations that word has these days.

I imagine that the problem stems from the one that has always been there: that the Coliseum is too big for most of the repertoire it is able to perform. They can't bring in full houses very often, and they lack the resources that other big places like the Met can call on to bring regular Ring cycles and long runs of more crowd-pleasing stuff that can fill the coffers and allow them to explore less popular repertory (although even they are struggling these days). The Coli is also a barn and singers and orchestra always struggle to make an impression. I assume that they are also weighed down with paying off the renovation until doomsday too, which would account for the prohibitive prices. I don't go to the opera much at all these days, but when I do it will always be a little further up the road to the ROH. At the lower end the prices are much the same anyway, and you will invariably get more value for money.

I feel truly sorry for the musicians caught up in this, who do their best and always seem to get the rough end of the stick. No doubt things will be patched up and the whole sorry shambles will trundle on a bit longer before the next crisis, but ultimately you can't help feeling that the writing is on the wall for the company. They were shackled to a building that was not going to be sustainable in the long-run and they are slowly paying the price. I haven't followed this saga very much over the last few years - just as I haven't attended ENO for a long time either - but I don't see any of their problems going away. I remember seeing a documentary by Adrian Chiles (this is going back a few years now, maybe 10) and you got a chance to see the day-to-day running of the place. Paul Daniel was the music director then, and I'd be surprised if he wasn't on the verge of a nervous breakdown at the time, he looked so demoralised. It must be a miserable working environment when you constantly have this uncertainty hanging over you.

[bluestateprommer]

Well, Daniel Kramer might be the bravest, or most foolhardy, man in opera now to take on the job of ENO artistic director:

http://www.theguardian.com/music/2016/apr/29/english-national-opera-appoints-daniel-kramer-artistic-director

I've never seen his work, although I remember the ruckus about his notorious ENO Bluebeard's Castle. Still, though, given how difficult a state ENO is in, he deserves some sort of points for guts, or something like that.

Getting back to what makropulos and I have expressed here, regarding Mark Wigglesworth, while what I'm about to say next is in probably a fair state of ignorance, MW's resignation is starting to look more and more like narcissistic self-preservation, rather than anything constructive that will help the company (unless the situation is truly unbearably dreadful for him). I would have had more respect for MW had he said something like:

"ENO is evolving into something that I do not recognise, and I cannot continue to work as ENO Music Director under such evolving circumstances. Thus I wish to tender my resignation as music director. For the sake of the company, I will remain as music director until the company finds a suitable replacement, to ensure a smooth transition of musical leadership."

Or something to that effect. Granted, the David Nices of the world probably won't be satisfied until Cressida Pollock is run out of town. But it would have been a bit more gracious for MW to wait until the announcement of a new artistic director, instead of risking a situation where ENO would have been completely rudderless w/o either an artistic director or a music director.

I have read (not sure where - possibly the i article I mentioned above) that Cressida Pollock has taken a 30% cut in her salary. Pretty substantial, and a good example of 'leading from the front'. Of course, a 30% cut in her salary would probably leave her with more than enough to live on (I've no idea what her salary is), unlike the cuts proposed/made to the chorus members' salary.

Perhaps it was this article:

https://www.thestage.co.uk/news/2016/eno-to-cut-senior-pay-by-20/

"The Stage also understands that chief executive Cressida Pollock accepted a 30% reduction to the role’s salary when her position became permanent in September last year."

Granted, that sentence sounds vaguely like the worst (and most widely read) gossip in classical music, but so it goes.

[Richard Tarleton]

For those interested with £1.40 to spare there's a double-page spread interview in today's Times with Mark Wigglesworth by Anna Picard

[Flosshilde]

Well, Daniel Kramer might be the bravest, or most foolhardy, man in opera now to take on the job of ENO artistic director:

Also the sexiest (but we're not really supposed to say such things)

[bluestateprommer]

Perhaps poor taste to put this next post into a thread with this title, but if this Tweet from 7:48 AM today at Opera magazine's Twitter feed is any indication, maybe some good news for ENO?

https://twitter.com/operamagazine

"Martyn Brabbins for ENO - encouraging news"

[bluestateprommer]

Courtesy of one of the forumites, Stuart Skelton lets ENO have it, i.e. Cressida Pollock and Daniel Kramer:

https://bachtrack.com/interview-stuart-skelton-tristan-lohengrin-trelinski-kramer-opera-month-february-2017

Skelton will probably never work at ENO again, but he may not need to. ENO might need him more than he needs them. On the positive side, he does put in a plug for American operas, which would make sense to stage at ENO:

"You've got a company in the biggest theatre in London with a magnificent chorus and orchestra and a history of having terrific music directors – albeit sometimes very short-lived – and they've not done Carlisle Floyd or Dominick Argento or Samuel Barber. They've not done Vanessa, or Antony and Cleopatra. They're happy to bring in American singers but they won't bring in American opera. This repertoire is approachable. When was the last time ENO did The Rake's Progress?"

Skelton also has this food for thought:

"Opera companies make the mistake of taking slightly off-beat repertoire and instead of the off-beatness being the attraction, they've taken it and married it to a completely wacko production, so you've turned people off twice. If you're going to do stuff that's not slap bang in the middle of the repertoire, then for God's sake don't let Calixto Bieito touch it. Or Damiano Michieletto. If you're going do William Tell, don't p--s your audience off. I know it sounds glib, but if you're going to do stuff that's a slightly difficult sell, make everything else about it easy to sell."

[underthecountertenor]

Looks like Skelton is only familiar with one Michieletto production. His ROH Cav & Pag was a very easy sell, as well as being terrific. And the very Bachtrack site on which the interview appears carries a mouthwatering review of his Viaggio a Reims for Dutch National Opera, for which it is reported that he was cheered to the rafters.

[Conchis]

Looks like Skelton is only familiar with one Michieletto production. His ROH Cav & Pag was a very easy sell, as well as being terrific. And the very Bachtrack site on which the interview appears carries a mouthwatering review of his Viaggio a Reims for Dutch National Opera, for which it is reported that he was cheered to the rafters.

Indeed: that was a great Cav and Pag. But his point about American operas holds - I would love to see Vanessa and A&C. I've never had an opportunity to do so.

[subcontrabass]

New development: https://www.theguardian.com/music/20...national-opera

[Ein Heldenleben]

The Telegraph has more - an exclusive even- citing clashes with the artistic director . You wouldn't believe the number of unsold tickets for Aida - if any one is going to the first night or dress I would be very interested in hearing how good the singing is before I splurge out on a stalls ticket.

[Prommer]

The Telegraph has more - an exclusive even- citing clashes with the artistic director . You wouldn't believe the number of unsold tickets for Aida - if any one is going to the first night or dress I would be very interested in hearing how good the singing is before I splurge out on a stalls ticket.

Am going to the dress. Will try to report back!

[Ein Heldenleben]

Am going to the dress. Will try to report back!

That's very kind - I'll swap you a report on The Sicillian Vespers general at ROH on 9th October ! Though maybe you are going to that. Bit of a Verdi fest in prospect and nothing wrong with that.

[jean]

The Telegraph has more - an exclusive even- citing clashes with the artistic director...

Link here: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2017...ational-opera/

Interesting comments after the Guardian column. Here's a good point from gingerjon, who I knew first on the BBC Woman's Hour board, and who posted a bit here a couple of years ago:

'Even when I lived in London and I regularly attended both, I found it obscene that you could walk between the country's two major subsidised opera companies in about five minutes.

If a version of ENO is to survive, or be reborn, it needs to decouple from WC2 and actually become national.'