English National Opera (ENO) has announced the first wave of plans for a major new partnership between the company and the city-region of Greater Manchester for the next three years, enabling ENO to be firmly established within Greater Manchester by 2029.
The ENO Greater Manchester partnership, which includes projects across the city-region, covers every aspect of opera production and celebrates new possibilities for the artform.
This announcement represents the beginning of longer-term strategic partnerships with venues and organisations across Greater Manchester.
It will include major contemporary works, new work development in opera, presenting ENO signature classics, interdisciplinary experimentations, creating operatic experiences by, with and for communities, and developing the opera-makers of today and tomorrow.
Among the projects announced today are a new immersive production presented with Factory International, Improbable and Park AvenueArmory New York of Philip Glass and Robert Wilson’s opera Einstein on the Beach,
A new production for the UK premiere of Angel’s Bone, the Pulitzer prize-winning contemporary opera by Chinese American composer Du Yun and librettist Royce Vavrek
Marking the beginning of a new partnership with Lowry, ENO’s production of Benjamin Britten’s classic comic ensemble opera Albert Herring, performed with the Orchestra of English National Opera, will open in October 2025 and a newly staged concert version of Mozart’s Così fan tutte with the Chorus and Orchestra of ENO, will be presented at The Bridgewater Hall in February 2026.
The partnership will see the creation of a Greater Manchester Youth Opera Company in partnership with Greater Manchester and Blackburn with Darwen Music Hub, working with young people aged 13-19 from across the city-region from backgrounds underrepresented and underserved in the arts.
ENO will work with Royal Northern College of Musicand a range of other partners to pilot the project beginning in September 2025. This ensemble singing programme will broaden access to creating opera, strengthen and diversify the sector talent pipeline, and invest in the opera-makers of the future.
Jenny Mollica, Chief Executive of English National Opera, said: “The projects we are announcing today mark the first wave of our developing partnership with Greater Manchester, which will be fully implemented by 2029. Working together over the last year, we could not be more clear that Greater Manchester is the right place to put down roots, a place where we can develop, expand and innovate. Where, building on the region’s legendary reputation as the heart of music making in this country, we can make a difference to audiences and communities, help invest in the next generation of talent and break new ground in the future of the artform – locally, nationally and internationally.”
