ENO's Musical Director Martyn Brabbins Resigns Over Cuts

British conductor and the ENO's Musical Director Martyn Brabbins has resigned from the company in response to cuts to the orchestra. 

Following the final performance of its production of Britten's Peter Grimes on 13 October,  the company announced that its orchestra would be reduced, cutting 19 jobs and employing the remaining musicians on a part-time basis.

Its statement read: 'Whilst the ENO remains grateful for the Arts Council’s revised support and financial investment...rising fixed costs and a requirement to develop work across more locations...[means]we are having to reevaluate our employment levels across every part of the organisation.'

Brabbins announced his resignation on 15 October, expressing regret for the ENO's decision: 'As Music Director of English National Opera for the past seven years, and Head of its orchestra, chorus and music staff, I cannot in all conscience continue to support the Board and Management’s strategy for the future of the company. While my feelings on this have been developing for some time, it reached its nadir this week, with the internal announcement of severe cuts to its orchestra and chorus from 2024/25 season. In protest, this afternoon I tendered my resignation with immediate effect.'

The ENO issued a statement in response to the resignation:

The ENO is surprised that Martyn Brabbins has decided to end his tenure as Music Director so abruptly.

As a member of the ENO’s senior leadership, Martyn has been party to all key discussions at all stages and the extremely difficult decisions that have to be made by the Board and Management in constrained financial circumstances.  

After nine months of negotiation with Arts Council England, the ENO has reached a position where we are confident we can maintain a substantial level of operatic work – as opposed to the original reality of total redundancy across the entire company (following Art Council England’s previous decision to remove the ENO as a National Portfolio Organisation in November 2022). 

As recorded in Board minutes, an all-staff meeting and in correspondence with Management and the Board, Martyn agreed that the position reached with Arts Council England in July 2023 provides a workable outcome. As the ENO’s musical leader, we are disappointed that Martyn has chosen to resign rather than support the company by engaging with the process of creating a sustainable future for the ENO.

Brabbins has been ENO’s music director since October 2016. He is the company’s second successive music director to resign over proposed cuts and job losses: in March 2016 Mark Wigglesworth, after less than a year in post, tendered his resignation in protest at swingeing cuts deemed necessary after a loss of 29% (or £5m) of the company’s Arts Council funding.

In November 2022, lost all its ACE funding and was told that its funding was to go completely unless it moved out of London.

Photo Credit: The ENO's production of Peter Grimes, conducted by Martyn Brabbins (c)Tom Bowles