A fight at the opera as ENO chorus revolt

Singers at the English National Opera passed a vote of no confidence in the management of the organisation yesterday after they learnt of plans to lay off a third of the chorus.

Outraged choristers accused the management of betraying promises on staffing levels and threatening the quality of the company's work. Their union, Equity, has written a protest letter to the Arts Council, which will discuss the planned job cuts on Tuesday.

The redundancies are the latest blow to a company that has been laid low by mounting debts and critical maulings in the past year. Nicholas Payne resigned as director, reportedly at proposals from Martin Smith, the chairman, to make radical changes. Cuts in the orchestra are thought likely to follow reductions in the chorus.

The chorus had already agreed that numbers should be cut from 68 to 60 while the ENO's home, the Coliseum, is closed for refurbishment in the second half of this year. Members had accepted assurances that the ENO would reopen in January 2004 with a full complement of 68 restored.

Hilary Hadley, Equity's opera organiser, said there was "a very real sense of betrayal" yesterday when Equity broke the news to the chorus members at a meeting that management refused to attend.

"Management have acknowledged that choristers have co-operated fully with plans for the closure period and have taken a very flexible approach to changes in their working patterns. They feel badly let down."

She said the choristers rejected any need for redundancies and were furious at how they had been treated. "They have expressed no confidence in the management regime."

The English National Opera is applying for special funding to reorganise the company, which has a confirmed deficit of £1.2m. "We're anticipating that by the end of January, we'll be able to make an announcement about the future," Ms Hadley said.

Past form suggests a decision might not be made that soon by the Arts Council. It makes thorough assessments before recommending an organisation is accepted for "stabilisation" funding.

Fears are growing for other ENO staff, too. Although technical and front-of-house staff will apparently suffer no redundancies, the Musicians' Union is concerned at the future of the orchestra.

Horace Trubridge, the union's London official, said yesterday: "There has been no actual statement from management but we are suspicious that that is probably their intent. The orchestra is already at its lowest strength for many years at 83. They're going to do [The Ring Cycle: Twilight of the Gods, by] Wagner and we don't know how they will do it."

One opera insider said he was surprised at the timing of the announcement. "They're doing Khovanshchina [by Mussorgsky, in a version by Shostakovich] next week which has an enormous chorus in it so it's not the best time to be doing what they're doing."