Dec 12, 2007

Strikes update



Opéra de Paris:

The strikes are over as every technician is back to work; yet, due to unknown causes (something about the scene of Bastille being staged for the Nutcracker and therefore preventing the switch to the Tannhäuser set - I didn't get the point though), the Paris Opera is maintaining the current semi-staged arrangement: no sets, but costumes, and lights.

The huge news though is that the website has posted the update in French and English (yes, talk about a miracle). I guess lights are on in the webmaster's brain too now.


Teatro San Carlo, Napoli, BNF archives


Italy:

Strike was avoided in Milan on Dec.7 for the Scala Prima, thanks to Stephane Lissner being able to convince the Italian government to give the 1250 workers a €3.2 million bonus to be shared amongst them.

Yet, performances in Genova (Teatro Carlo Felice), Palermo (Teatro Massimo) and Florence (Teatro del Maggio Musicale) were once again cancelled and, after weeks of turmoil in the Italian Opera Houses all around the country, the situation stands firmly unresolved.

As Jean-Jacques Bozonnet mentions in Le Monde today, the situation is a bit desperate everywhere: money is nowhere to be found, and the Teatro San Carlo in Napoli and the Teatro del Maggio Fiorentino are on the brink of bankruptcy, as was the House in Cagliari a few years back.

That situation has striking resemblances to the current situation some Opera Houses are facing in France right now (Avignon, Metz and Tours), with the French Government threatening to cut its fundings.



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