Sarah Connolly is back in warrior mode – and this time it’s for real. Having played kings, emperors and heroes on the opera stage, she is going into battle for two organisations at the heart of British culture, ones that shaped her life and her career and which are now under threat of cuts and cancellation. One is the BBC Singers, of which she was a member for five years; the other is English National Opera, temporarily reprieved from its banishment to ‘outside London’, but still facing an uncertain future.
‘I sang at ENO for 27 years,’ says Connolly with fire in her eyes. ‘I cut my teeth on this stage, I learnt the profession on this stage and now the Arts Council want to take that away. I wouldn’t have sung at the Met or the ROH if I hadn’t gained that experience.’
Known as the Queen of the Baroque for her assumption of legendary figures such as Julius Caesar, Xerxes, Nero and Medea, Connolly is supposed to be recharging her batteries between performances of Korngold’s The Dead City at ENO. But the peace of her little house in Broadstairs on the coast is punctuated by two excitable dogs and her drama student daughter, home for the holidays.
It has been a bruising few years. Just before lockdown, she was diagnosed with breast cancer and underwent chemo- and radiotherapy. Months after treatment ended, she separated from her husband of 25 years, moving out of the family home in Gloucestershire last September. She says being able to throw herself into work, including playing the witch Ježibaba in Dvořák’s Rusalka, has given her a focus.
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