English National Opera has chosen Sean Doran – currently heading the Perth Arts Festival in Australia – as the beleaguered company’s new artistic director. It will be a tough job. “By the time he arrives in April, the result of the strike ballot among the 68 members of the chorus, faced with one in three redundancies to reduce the company’s deficit, will be known, and the Musicians’ Union will have decided whether to initiate grievance procedures over the treatment of the orchestra.”