Who gave the order to fire at English National Opera?

The distribution of redundancy notices to musicians before and during their performance of an opera is one of the most callous acts seen in an opera house in living memory.

The actual firing, reported exclusively by Slippedisc.com, was carried out by ENO’s ‘Director Of People’ Denise Mackenzie. She did not act on her own initiative. So who gave the order?

According to insiders, both interim CEO Jenny Mollica and artistic director Anneliese Miskimmon (pictured) were on leave last week. That suggests the order to fire came from the board, on the authority of chairman Dr Harry Brünjes.

This was a cruel and unnecessary actb for which no-one takes responsibility.

The board is saying nothing.

We append the names of its members:

Dr Harry Brünjes (Chair)
Louise Jeffreys (Deputy Chair)
Nicholas Addyman
Sally Burgess
Patty Dimond
Phil Edgar-Jones
Adiba Ighodaro
Professor Ajit Lalvani
Hilary Newiss
Sally Osman
Lord Chris Smith
Patti White
Richard Buxton
John Cooke (Board Secretary)