Daniel Kramer warns ENO detractors: 'back off'

English National Opera’s new artistic director Daniel Kramer has issued a fiery riposte to detractors who want the company downsized, telling them to “back off” and “stop coming for our building”.

The director, who began his tenure at the London Coliseum at the start of August, claimed outside forces have been pressuring the company to axe both its in-house chorus and orchestra.

In an exclusive interview with The Stage, Kramer explained: “What I think some people can’t conceive is that that there was a strong initiative from many people outside ENO to cut the chorus and orchestra to freelance contracts. I’m dead opposed to that.”

He claimed it was essential to the opera house to have an orchestra and chorus working as part of a community with principals and conductors.

Explaining the need for a fully funded opera house, he said: “This is not a musical theatre house. We’ve got plenty of those. You cannot fit 70 musicians inside the Lyceum, and I’m not going to do Puccini with 12 musicians. Opera is something else.”

He added: “Just because you don’t get opera, and that it does something superhuman, that doesn’t mean that it’s not a viable art form. Stop coming for our building. Back off.”

Kramer did not name the critics he was referring to. However, criticism of the company’s high funding levels have been vocal, with the Spectator publishing an opinion piece in February titled “ENO must go”.

The article, written by choral conductor Peter Phillips, questioned why the opera company was still receiving public funding “when the art form is so obviously a plaything of the wealthy”.

Kramer, however, said the company needed to prove to Arts Council England that opera was “an important art form” and that the company “deserves to get back to 14 shows a year”.

ENO currently puts on only 11 productions per year across several venues – reduced from the number it used to stage after it began experiencing serious financial difficulty in 2013.

Earlier this year, the company’s chorus threatened to go on strike after proposals were put forward to cut their pay by £10,215 per year.

ENO had claimed it would be “at grave risk of bankruptcy” if it did not move the chorus to seasonal contracts, as part of a “fundamental shift” in its business plan.

However, the dispute was later settled when the chorus agreed to take a £5,900 pro rata pay cut, working for nine months of the year on a seasonal basis.

Elsewhere in his interview, Kramer claimed most theatre directors “can’t direct musicals”.

He explained: “Ultimately, I believe that there is a very distinct difference between directing theatre, directing musical theatre and directing opera.

“[Musicals are] an absolute art form, and with a musical it can be a very painful public failure,” he said, adding: “I’ve been there.”

Speaking at the launch of ENO’s new season in May, Kramer pledged that the company would stage one musical each year in an effort to bring new audiences to the Coliseum.

To read Daniel Kramer’s full interview with The Stage, click here