The financially troubled English National Opera announced on Friday that its artistic director, John Berry, is stepping down after eight years in the job and 20 years with the ENO. Berry’s departure comes after two of the company’s top managers resigned at the end of last year and earlier this year. One of the managers, the ENO’s former chairman, Martyn Rose, said in a leaked letter that the company had lost more than 15.million dollars under Berry’s tenure. Berry has refused to comment on the matter and the ENO said it did not recognize the figure and was expecting a balanced budget this year. Shortly afterwards, Arts Council England took the unusual step of removing the ENO from the list of organizations that receive regular grants and instead offered “special funding arrangements” until it got its house in order.
