English National Opera is to cut the price of half its tickets when the 2105/16 season launches later this year.
The price cut will make 500 seats available for £20 or less at every performance, affecting 60,000 tickets across the season.
Operas that will benefit from the new pricing structure include new productions of Tristan And Isolde, La Bohème, Akhnaten, Lady Macbeth Of Mtsensk, The Force Of Destiny and Norma, and revivals of The Barber Of Seville, The Mikado, The Magic Flute, Madam Butterfly and Jenůfa.
Speaking about the decision, Interim CEO Cressida Pollok said: “I’m delighted that, from our 2015/16 season, we’re reducing the price of 50% of tickets. There should be no barrier – financial or cultural – to deter people from attending an ENO performance at the London Coliseum.”
Mark Wigglesworth, who replaces Edward Gardner as Music Director from the 2015/16 season, will conduct two of the new productions, working alongside directors Dmitri Tcherniakov and Calixto Bieito on Shostakovich’s Lady Macbeth Of Mtsensk and Verdi’s The Force Of Destiny respectively.
Other notable directors heading to the London Coliseum to create the new productions include South Bank Show Award winner Daniel Kramer, who directs an Anish Kapoor-designed production of Wagner’s Tristan And Isolde, A Streetcar Named Desire’s Benedict Andrews (La Bohème), ENO regular Christopher Alden (Norma) and Improbable’s Phelim McDermott, who directs his third Philip Glass Opera, Akhnaten.
Commenting on the season, ENO Artistic Director John Berry said: “Despite a challenging economic landscape, we’ve assembled the world’s most in-demand directors, conductors, singers and creative teams, ensuring that ENO remains at the forefront of adventurous programming.”
Today’s season announcement comes at a time of great success for ENO. At the recent Olivier Awards with MasterCard the company won both opera awards, Best New Opera Production (The Mastersingers Of Nuremberg) and Outstanding Achievement in Opera (Director Richard Jones for his work with ENO). The company’s recent production of Stephen Sondheim’s Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber Of Fleet Street also played to 96% capacity, attracting 31,790 audience members to 14 performances.