New appointments at English National Ballet

Posted on October 3, 2013

Caroline Thomson, a former deputy director-general of the BBC, has been appointed executive director of English National Ballet. In her first act as executive director, she announced that Farooq Chaudhry, co-founder and producer of Akram Khan Company, will be joining ENB as producer. He will support the creative vision of artistic director Tamara Rojo and develop the company’s commercial potential in the UK and overseas.

Thomson, who takes on her new responsibilities with immediate effect, had been acting as interim executive director since May, when Karen Napier resigned after just three months in the job. A former journalist and programme maker, Thomson has held a series of senior roles in broadcasting. She said: “Under the artistic direction of Tamara Rojo, English National Ballet has started an exciting journey of transformation and I am delighted to be able to play a part in leading it to success.”

Farooq Chaudhry, who joins immediately, said: “English National Ballet has an energy and vision which excites me and reminds me of how Akram Khan and I started out. It offers me an opportunity to flex my producer muscles in new and different ways. When Tamara Rojo tells me with utmost conviction she wants to change the way ballet companies are run, I believe her. She is a visionary who sees things others don’t and I am thrilled by the challenge of working with this remarkable woman and her team and helping to make English National Ballet a ballet company for today and the future.”

Photograph of Caroline Thomson courtesy of English National Ballet

Photograph of Farooq Chaudhry: Maya Almeida Araujo. 

Zoe Anderson

Zoë was born in Edinburgh, and saw her first dance performances at the Festival there. She is the dance critic of The Independent, and has also written for The Independent on Sunday, The Scotsman and Dancing Times. In 2002, she received her doctorate from the University of York for a thesis on “Nationhood and epic romance: Ariosto, Sidney, Spenser”. She is the author of The Royal Ballet: 75 Years and The Ballet Lover’s Companion.