Northern Ballet and Opera North in partnership talks

Northern Ballet has announced plans for a “strategic partnership” with Opera North that would see its dancers perform alongside the Orchestra of Opera North instead of its own Sinfonia.

The organisations, both residents at Leeds Grand Theatre, say that the proposal to share the same orchestra would help them build “financial resilience” and allow Northern Ballet, which has begun to use recorded music on some tour dates since revealing last year it was in “serious financial trouble”, to perform more widely with live musicians.

However, the Musicians’ Union (MU), which said it was only given notice of the new proposal moments before being released online, is concerned the move represents a ”further shrinking of the opera and ballet sector, with a direct impact on musicians’ jobs and freelance opportunities”.

‘Challenging 12-months’

In a statement posted to its website on Friday, Northern Ballet said it was “under financial pressure, brought about largely by rising production and touring costs”.

It has already made job cuts across administrative staff, technical staff, and dancers.

“As we continue to navigate these challenges, we are beginning to explore a strategic partnership between Northern Ballet and Opera North, which would include the Orchestra of Opera North performing alongside the dancers of Northern Ballet,” said the company.

“The two organisations will remain entirely independent while collaborating to ensure that audiences continue to have access to live, large-scale ballet and opera in their local theatre.

“A partnership would aim to build financial resilience for both organisations, allowing more Northern Ballet performances to be performed to live music than our current circumstances allow.”

The dance company said it would work closely with the MU and maintain a dialogue with members of Northern Ballet Sinfonia because it was “conscious of how challenging the past 12 months have been for them.”

It also acknowledged that pursuing a partnership with Opera North will impact the livelihoods freelance musicians it works with.

Opera North, which last week confirmed it is undergoing a full “organisational review” amid reports of redundancies to create a “leaner, more agile structure,” released its own statement.

“We hope that this collaboration between two of the north’s key arts organisations will allow both companies to thrive, creating new opportunities for artists and audiences across the UK,” it said.

‘Sector in crisis’

MU general secretary Naomi Pohl, said the union will continue its campaign to save the Northern Ballet Sinfonia.

“The Sinfonia musicians are still listed on the Northern Ballet website, and they have been working for the company for years, in some cases decades,” she said, “We can’t stand by as work for musicians just disappears.

“This is a sector in crisis. The situation for the Northern Ballet musicians is particularly stark because they are being offered so little work with the company going forward, but we are seeing many examples of work lost or organisations cannibalising each other’s bookings.”

Morris Stemp, orchestras and health and safety official at MU added: “The orchestral world is a delicate ecosystem, where having good pools of players available is critical to the success of the larger ensembles or employed orchestras.

“Without a good supply of orchestras who work in this way, you simply won’t even keep the players in the industry as there won’t be enough work to go around.

“These players have been loyal to the company for so long, being potentially cast aside like this sends such a painful message to everyone about the viability of a career in music.

“It’s true that looking at all options is important so that you can, hand on heart, say you have left no stone unturned, as long as good sense prevails and the wonderful players who form the orchestra of Northern Ballet are retained to produce the quality playing that they are expert in. These proposals are most certainly not a done deal.”

Familiar refrain

The financial obstacles facing the two Leeds-based organisations have become an increasingly familiar refrain across the sector after other opera companies, including Welsh National Opera, English National Opera, and Glyndebourne, have recently had to make operational changes, such as job losses or reduced touring, due to rising costs and a challenging funding environment, including lower core funding from ACE.

Both Opera North and Northern Ballet are ACE National Portfolio Organisations, receiving £10.7m and £3.29m each year, respectively, for 2023-26, a slight rise on their 2018-22 funding, when they were awarded £10.4m and £3.11m.

ACE recently said it will consider using existing grant schemes to channel more money into developing new opera works as part of its efforts to support the sector. The comments were made in reaction to a report commissioned into the state of the opera sector.