The English National Opera unveils plans following Manchester relocation

English National Opera (ENO) has announced the first wave of plans for a major new partnership between the company and Greater Manchester for the next three years, enabling ENO to be firmly established within Greater Manchester by 2029.

The ENO Greater Manchester partnership covers every aspect of opera production and celebrates new possibilities for the art form, representing 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.

As part of the first wave of projects, Factory International will join with Improbable and Park Avenue Armory New York to present Philip Glass and Robert Wilson’s opera, Einstein on the Beach.

There will be 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, which draws inspiration from a range of musical genres from classical to cabaret and punk.

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 next October.

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.

A new Greater Manchester Youth Opera Company will be established in partnership with Greater Manchester and Blackburn with Darwen Music Hub, aimed at young people aged 13-19 from across the region from backgrounds underrepresented in the arts.

ENO will work with the Royal Northern College of Music and a range of other partners to pilot the project beginning next September. 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.

PERFECT PITCH is a celebration of opera and community football in a co-creation between Salford-based outdoor arts specialists, Walk the Plank, ENO, community groups and local football teams in the region. The large-scale participation programme will explore the impact that mass singing has on team performance and spectator experience.

There will be a city-region-wide expansion of ENO Breathe, ENO’s award-winning creative health programme, originally created for people recovering from COVID-19 with Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust. ENO is working with NHS Greater Manchester and Greater Manchester Combined Authority to pioneer a new iteration of the ENO Breathe programme to support people living with other respiratory conditions, including Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) and asthma.

For more information, and the entire ENO programme so far, click here.