English National Opera gains RPS awards nomination
The English National Opera (ENO) is among the nominees for this year's Royal Philharmonic Society (RPS) awards.
The ENO is shortlisted in the opera and music theatre category. It comes after the ENO was placed under "special funding arrangements" by Arts Council England. In other categories, there are double nods for the Oxford Lieder Festival, the Royal Opera House and the Arditti Quartet, in its 40th anniversary year. The winners will be announced at a ceremony in London on May. Competing with the ENO in the opera and music theatre category is the Royal Opera House's production of Strauss's Die Frau ohne Schatten and John Metcalf's opera based on Dylan Thomas's radio play Under Milk Wood. In February, Arts Council England said the ENO must improve its business model or face funding cuts. It had already cut the ENO's funding by 29%, which prompted some of world's most prestigious opera companies to sign a public letter condemning the cuts. Younger artists There is a strong showing in the RPS awards for younger artists with all the solo instrumentalists and three quarters of the conductors nominated being under 40. Percussionist Colin Currie, violist James Ehnes and violinist Lawrence Power are competing in the instrumentalist category. While in the conductor category John Eliot Gardiner, Andri Nelsons and Vasily Petrenko are nominated. In the singer category Swedish soprano Nina Stemme is up against English tenor Mark Padmore and German baritone Christian Gerhaher. A programme dedicated to the awards will be broadcast on BBC Radio 3 on 11 May at 19:30 BST. Nominations in full: Audiences and Engagement Chamber Music and Song Chamber-Scale Composition Concert Series and Festivals Conductor Creative Communication Ensemble Instrumentalist Large-Scale Composition Learning and Participation Opera and Music Theatre Singer Young Artists