Could the answer to English National Opera’s problems be an inexperienced American director with lots of optimism? Charlotte Higgins meets Daniel Kramer.
Appointing Daniel Kramer as artistic director of English National Opera feels like the last gasp for a company drowning in a sea of troubles. Since January last year, it has had a chairman resign, an executive director resign, an artistic director resign and, most recently, a music director resign. The heartache, the publicly played-out anger, the threat of strikes, the abrupt departures – it all feels familiar, because a prequel to this disaster movie played out around 15 years ago. Some think that ENO has long been starved of the resources it needs; others are losing patience with ENO’s seeming inability to make things work, particularly when it receives, relative to most British arts organisations, a great deal of public money (£12.7m a year even, after a recent £5m cut). Then there is the niggling impression that, amid patchy audience figures, ENO has lost a sense of artistic purpose – despite a brilliant chorus and orchestra. The situation is painful, complex and seemingly intractable, and into this lion’s den, Kramer has willingly walked... Keep reading on The Guardian
Appointing Daniel Kramer as artistic director of English National Opera feels like the last gasp for a company drowning in a sea of troubles. Since January last year, it has had a chairman resign, an executive director resign, an artistic director resign and, most recently, a music director resign. The heartache, the publicly played-out anger, the threat of strikes, the abrupt departures – it all feels familiar, because a prequel to this disaster movie played out around 15 years ago. Some think that ENO has long been starved of the resources it needs; others are losing patience with ENO’s seeming inability to make things work, particularly when it receives, relative to most British arts organisations, a great deal of public money (£12.7m a year even, after a recent £5m cut). Then there is the niggling impression that, amid patchy audience figures, ENO has lost a sense of artistic purpose – despite a brilliant chorus and orchestra. The situation is painful, complex and seemingly intractable, and into this lion’s den, Kramer has willingly walked... Keep reading on The Guardian