Sarah Bowern, Deputy Head of Costume at English National Opera, has received an MBE for services to opera and charity in the Queen’s birthday honours list for 2020.

Sarah Bowern MBE, Deputy Head of Costume, ENO said: “I am so shocked – and happy – to accept this honour in recognition of both my work at ENO and during the outbreak of Covid-19.

I am so proud of the way my brilliant ENO colleagues and our freelancers costume network rallied round to help us provide PPE and other supplies to our wonderful NHS and front-line workers.

It has been fantastic to return to my day job back at the London Coliseum in recent weeks and I can’t wait to celebrate with everyone at ENO, my family and friends when we are all back together.”

Harry Brunjes, Chair, and Stuart Murphy, CEO, English National Opera said:

“On behalf of everyone at ENO, we want to congratulate Sarah on receiving this very deserved accolade. As our Deputy Head of Costume, we have long recognized Sarah’s talents on stage where her brilliant costumes have been enjoyed by audiences at the London Coliseum for a number of years, and most recently at ENO Drive and Live in Alexandra Palace carpark.

However, her inspirational leadership of our brilliant Costume and Props teams to respond to the pandemic by making thousands of sets of PPE for our NHS and frontline workers has been astonishing – and we are incredibly proud of her. We cannot wait to celebrate with her, and with the whole team at ENO who have responded so brilliantly and innovatively during this very difficult time.”