A concert to mark the 100th anniversary of the death of Italian composer Giacomo Puccini at the Teatro alla Scala (Milan Opera) was effectively disrupted by a strike by the CGIL (General Italian Confederation of Labour). Soprano Anna Netrebko and tenor Jonas Kaufman were left without an orchestra and had to sing to the piano, IlGiorno reports.
The publication notes that the theatre was aware of the strike, as the morning rehearsal was cancelled due to the absence of orchestrators at work. However, the audience was not warned about the cancellation in advance. As a result, LaScala Superintendent Domenic Meyer came on stage 10 minutes before the concert began and announced in front of a nearly full auditorium that the concert was cancelled.
‘We couldn’t ask who was coming and we realised ten minutes ago that we couldn’t do the concert tonight,’ he said.
He added, however, that there was ‘good news’ – the concert would be accompanied by James Vaughan at the piano. Audience members were offered a glass of sparkling wine at the theatre’s bars while theatre staff removed chairs and lecterns from the stage and set up the piano.
The audience was initially shocked, greeting the news with cries of ‘disgrace’, but the audience later realised they had been treated to a unique event. The artists came out three times for an encore, the concert ended with a long ovation.
It should be noted that the CGIL union announced an eight-hour general strike, which was scheduled for the day of the concert. Among the demands of the protesters are higher wages and pensions; increased funding for education, health care, free public services, including transport; increased investment in industry; rejection of the budget manoeuvre, which will lead Italians to seven years of austerity.
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