Jenny Mollica Appointed As English National Opera's Director Of Baylis

English National Opera (ENO) has appointed Jenny Mollica as Director of Baylis, ENO's learning and participation department.

ENO Baylis offers a range of opportunities for people of all ages to engage with opera. It focuses in particular on young people aged 11-18, and in the last four years has exposed more than 20,000 young people to opera either through Opera Squad residencies, or through Baylis in the Balcony, which provides free tickets to schools for dress rehearsals. In addition to working with schools in London, this year the programme has extended to schools in Luton and Liverpool. All of the schools ENO Baylis works with have pupil populations with above average percentage BAME, SEN and free school meals.

Jenny joins from the Barbican and Guildhall School of Music & Drama where she is currently Director of Creative Learning. She is responsible for leading the award-winning Barbican Guildhall Creative Learning department, which every year supports more than 22,000 people of all ages and backgrounds to discover creative skills for life through pioneering learning programmes across visual arts, theatre, dance, film, music and literature.

Since joining Barbican Guildhall Creative Learning in 2008, Jenny has been responsible for the design, development and production of a number of innovative creative learning programmes across a wide range of art forms and contexts. Highlights include the flagship schools programme, Barbican Box, which works in partnership with schools, cultural education services and arts centres in London, nationally and internationally; launching the London training centre for the world's first disabled-led youth orchestra, the National Open Youth Orchestra, in partnership with Open Up Music; and setting up the Associate Schools programme, for which the department received a National Creative Learning Achievement Award for its work with The Garden School, a school for learners with autism.

Jenny trained at postgraduate level as both an artist and educator. She has a Masters (Distinction) in Theatre Directing from Middlesex University and the Russian Institute of Theatre Art (GITIS), a PGCE from the University of Greenwich and an MA (Hons) from the University of St Andrews.

Jenny Mollica said: "I am thrilled to be joining the ENO to lead the brilliant Baylis programme at this progressive and much loved company. It has been a great privilege to lead the work of Barbican Guildhall Creative Learning over the past few years alongside so many inspirational colleagues. I am now looking forward to working with ENO's world-class team at this exciting time to reimagine the future significance of Baylis for a new decade and beyond."

Stuart Murphy said: "I am absolutely delighted that Jenny is joining ENO. Baylis is the core of ENO and is integral to everything we do - making opera accessible to all, inspiring people across the country and engaging with children and young adults in an exciting and dynamic way. Jenny has a brilliant vision for where she would like to take Baylis and we are all looking forward to working with her. I would also like to thank Lucy Anderson and the entire Baylis team for holding the fort during this recruitment."

Jenny will join ENO in the summer.

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