In a drastic move, the English National Opera is planning to make one in three singers redundant.
Under its controversial new chairman Martin Smith, the ENO has approached the Arts Council to pay redundancy costs for 20 of its 60-strong chorus.
The news has been greeted with shock and outrage at the Coliseum, where some singers have devoted 35 years to the company.
"We have been stabbed in the back. It is a complete betrayal of the chorus and the company," said one, who did not wish to be named.
"It is a total shock," she added. "We were told that, despite the rumours that have been dogging the company, there were no redundancies ahead."
A spokesman for the opera company admitted: "It is true the ENO put in a special business plan application to the Arts Council and is awaiting their response."
Equity, the union representing the chorus, was told the news by the architect of the plan, ENO executive Caroline Felton. A spokesman for the union agreed: "There is a very real sense of betrayal."
Ms Felton, a management consultant, was recruited by Mr Smith as acting general director of the company after the shock departure of much-admired director Nicholas Payne last year.
Mr Payne is understood to have resigned in protest at proposals made for the company by Mr Smith, an investment banker.
All the chorus called a meeting this morning to discuss their future and invited Ms Felton to give an explanation - but she declined to face the singers, whose careers she may end.
The plans, though, depend on the Arts Council agreeing to pay. No decision has yet been made. The council will meet next week to discuss the proposed lay-offs.
One singer said: "This will drastically change the nature of the company. If the Arts Council does agree to pay for these redundancies, a lot of them will have to be forced because very few of the chorus will be willing to leave voluntarily.
"There are only one or two people close enough to retirement age for that to be desirable."
Members of the chorus have attempted to contact Ms Felton but one claimed: "She never returns personal phone calls".
Read More
If approved, the redundancies will take place in June - just before the Coliseum, in St Martin's Lane, closes as part of its ongoing £41million refurbishment.
An angry chorus member said:"They will be trampling over our bodies just when the Coliseum and the company could have been entering a fantastic period. Now everyone-will be worried about who will be chosen to go. How will they decide who to throw out?
"Will they make us audition to stay in the company we have given our entire careers to? We have families, and there are couples amongst the chorus too - so any sackings would be doubly damaging."
The Equity spokesman claimed today's news was a U-turn, saying:
"When the closure for refurbishment was first discussed, the choristers were given an assurance by Nicholas Payne that, if they agreed to a reduction in the chorus from the usual 68 to 60, the ENO would reopen with a chorus of 68."
An spokesman for the company said: "The ENO put in a special business plan to the Arts Council and is awaiting their response."
