A rarely produced, interval-free five-hour opera hailed as revolutionary when it was first performed in 1976 is to be part of English National Opera’s first three years of plans for Greater Manchester.
Philip Glass and Robert Wilson’s plotless Einstein on the Beach baffled some opera-goers when it was first seen in 1976. But many also saw it as visionary. The New York Times critic Clive Barnes said it was “bizarre, occasionally boring, yet always intermittently beautiful”, adding: “You will never forget it, even if you hate it.”
It is now regarded as a minimalist classic, and an immersive production of Einstein on the Beach will be performed in Manchester, although not until 2027. It is one of a number of productions and initiatives described by ENO as “the first wave” of its plans in Greater Manchester. This includes a production next year at the Lowry in Salford of Benjamin Britten’s Albert Herring, as well as plans to co-create a youth opera company and a collaboration with local football teams.
The aim, ENO said, is to be “firmly established within Greater Manchester by 2029”. The company has called the London Coliseum home for more than 50 years but was told by Arts Council England (ACE) two years ago that it had to move out of the capital or it would lose public funding. There was uproar, with complaints of “cultural vandalism” and a suggestion that the company was being made to move with a gun to its head.
The Greater Manchester mayor, Andy Burnham, was annoyed at ENO’s perceived reluctance to move north. “If they think we are all heathens here,” he said, “it doesn’t deserve to come here.” A new deal with ACE means the ENO will have its partnership with Greater Manchester, while also continuing its “substantial opera season every year at the London Coliseum”.
The ENO chose Greater Manchester from a shortlist that also included Liverpool, Bristol, Birmingham and Nottingham. Manchester was always the favourite, not least because of huge public investment made in the £242m arts venue now called Aviva Studios, which will be the venue for Einstein on the Beach and, in 2026, the UK premiere of the modern opera Angel’s Bone, which explores human trafficking and slavery in a story of two angels crashing into a suburban back yard.
Einstein on the Beach will be directed by Phelim McDermott, who also directed the wildly successful ENO productions of the Glass operas Satyagraha and Akhnaten. It is rarely performed because of its cost and length. The only previous UK production was at the Barbican Centre in London in 2012, and received generally good reviews.
Jenny Mollica, ENO’s chief executive, said the partnership had got off to a great start. “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,” she said.
“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 art form – locally, nationally and internationally.”
After Albert Herring at the Lowry in 2025, there will be a concert version of Mozart’s Così fan Tutte at the Bridgewater Hall in February 2026.
ENO said it would work with the Royal Northern College of Music and other partners to help create a Greater Manchester youth opera company. Other projects include Perfect Pitch, which will bring together opera and community football.
“This large-scale participation programme will explore the impact that mass singing has on team performance and spectator experience, starting in summer 2025,” ENO said.
At a launch event in Manchester on Thursday there was little sign of the acrimony and wranglesthat preceded it. There were warm speeches, performances and the reading of a new celebratory poem by Carol Ann Duffy to mark the partnership.
Burnham called it a “momentous day”. He said: “It is another major step in the advance of the city in its journey to being a global cultural and economic powerhouse.
“This is a music city in every respect. It lives and breathes music. I think this move will change Manchester but actually I think it will change English National Opera even more … it will bring a new relevance to their work. It will help opera connect to new audiences.”
The arts minister, Chris Bryant, called the ENO plans “exciting and inspiring”. He added: “They will help to ensure that arts and culture are no longer the preserve of a privileged few by giving opera a permanent home in the city and engaging directly with local communities.”
Darren Henley, the chief executive of ACE, described the ENO plans as “truly electrifying, in scale, scope and ambition”.
