Musicians at English National Opera have voted to strike in protest of the company's decision to axe 19 orchestral jobs and make other staff members part-time. 

Taking place during the opening night of its production of The Handmaid's Tale on 1 February, it will be the first time Musicians Union members have taken full strike action in 44 years.

• Martyn Brabbins resigns from English National Opera

The strike was confirmed yesterday, following ENO chorus members voting 100% in favour of strike action via a ballot conducted by Equity, the trade union which represents them.

ENO management announced plans last year to make all of the chorus, orchestra and music staff redundant and only reemploy them for 6 months of the year. Following this, it was announced that ENO would move from its current London Coliseum home to as unconfirmed Manchester location by 2029.

General secretary of the Musicians Union, Niomi Pohl told Opera Now: 'the orchestra are angry and there's a lot of disbelief. Some of the musicians are already putting their houses on the market.

'There's not a clear career progression route for a lot of orchestral musicians,' Pohl said of orchestral musicians' rights. 'The idea that now, when this crisis hits, that they are taking the brunt of it - it doesn't feel right.'

This isn't the first strike action of an opera company orchestra conducted by the MU, with the Royal Opera House orchestra engaging in action late last year in a bid to restore their pay cut during the pandemic.

• Royal Opera House Orchestra accepts new pay offer from management

After the pay cut to the ENO orchestra was announced in October, music director Martyn Brabbins resigned in protest. Speaking of yesterday's announcement of the strike, Brabbins said, 'My conducting home for seven years, ENO has been a pinnacle of opera creation on the world stage ... as a result of Arts Council England’s narrow-minded and negligent decision to push ENO out of London, these brilliant musicians face devastation to their livelihoods and untold stress to their families.

'Arts Council England and those negotiating on behalf of ENO must now see their actions risk destroying the one thing they have been charged with protecting,' Brabbins continued. 'I urge both ENO and ACE decision makers to return to the negotiating tables with the protection of musical and artistic integrity as their number one priority.'

Through the strike, musicians in the orchestra and music staff are calling on management to guarantee a seven month contract, first refusal on work outside London, equal choices on new contracts for all orchestral members, equal total hours available to all and decent pay for music staff.