‘My hair was still growing back – but I needed to show the singing world that I was back in action’
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
