New York City Opera is set to cut the position of music director, held by the conductor George Manahan. In an interview with The New York Times newspaper, the opera company’s general manager and artistic director George Steel stated that “it doesn’t make sense for us to have a music director”.

Manahan has acted as music director for NYCO since 1996 and was last year also appointed music director of the American Composers Orchestra. His wide-ranging artistic projects have included the 1981 premiere recording of Steve Reich’s Tehillim for ECM and the world premiere performance of Hans Werner Henze’s The English Cat. “The New York City Opera has been an important part of my life for the past 40 years”, Manahan said in a statement released through his management, “so naturally I am saddened that the new vision for the Company’s future does not include a role for a music director”.

The announcement is bound to ruffle a few feathers. Manahan was praised by The New York Times (the single most important reviews source for New York live music outlets) earlier this year for his “mesmerising account” in NYCO’s Monodramas production. When contacted by Gramophone, the NYCO said that it had nothing to add to Manahan’s statement. The decision to drop the music director post comes at a troubled period in the opera company’s history. In 2008 Gerard Mortier terminated his contract as general director of the NYCO due to funding problems. Financial pressures in 2011 have seen the 68-year-old opera company undertake staff cuts and a decision to leave its Lincoln Center home.