15 December 2009

We finished the ENO autumn season on Saturday night with a full house for Turandot. The production, directed by Rupert Goold, proved hugely popular with audiences. Over 26,000 tickets were sold, making the production the best selling show in the last two years.

There were many highlights this autumn, including our sell-out new production of Ligeti’s Le Grand Macabre, directed by La Fura dels Baus, and a double-bill of Bartók and Stravinsky thrillingly conducted by Edward Gardner. Deborah Warner directed a staging of Handel’s Messiah, with an outstanding cast of British singers conducted by Laurence Cummings, which marked the end of a year of celebrations for the composer. Two superb revivals, The Turn of the Screw conducted by Sir Charles Mackerras and Rigoletto, with Anthony Michaels-Moore in the title role, completed the autumn.

Sing Hallelujah
Sing Hallelujah, in partnership with the BBC, has been a huge success and great fun for everyone involved. Inspired by our staging of Messiah and BBC celebrations for Handel, the project encouraged everyone to find their voice this autumn. On the weekend of 5/6 December some 1,500 people at Glasgow City Halls and the London Coliseum learnt the ‘Hallelujah Chorus’. Many of the participants said they hadn’t sung since school. There was a resounding joyfulness from all those involved as captured on Radio 3’s The Choir on 6 December.
 
Over 400 choirs have used bbc.co.uk/sing to register their Sing Hallelujah events around the UK, raising nearly £4,000 for Children in Need so far. Thousands more have visited the website to use newly commissioned content which includes, most recently, a wonderful interview with Deborah Warner and conductor Laurence Cummings on the staging of ENO’s Messiah.
 
Awards
In November we added another award to our shelf (following a scoop of all four UK Opera awards in spring). The Award – an AMI Award – was for our new production of John Adams’s Doctor Atomic. These new Awards have been launched to recognise creative work which promotes a more open-minded, tolerant society. The production and our accessible ticket prices, which allowed Ability Media International students the chance to see the opera for £10 each, were mentioned by the judges.