The concert dedicated to the 100th anniversary of the death of the Italian composer Giacomo Puccini on the stage of Teatro alla Scala (Milan Opera) was actually disrupted due to the strike of the CGIL (General Italian Confederation of Labor) trade union. Soprano Anna Netrebko and tenor Jonas Kaufman were left without an orchestra and were forced to sing to the piano, the IlGiorno portal reports.
The publication notes that the theater was aware of the strike, as the morning rehearsal was canceled due to the absence of orchestras at work. However, the audience was not warned in advance about the cancellation of the event. As a result, 10 minutes before the start of the concert, LaScala Superintendent Domenic Meyer came on stage and announced in front of an almost full house that the concert had been canceled.
"We couldn't ask who was coming, and ten minutes ago we realized that we wouldn't be able to do the concert tonight," he said.
At the same time, he added that there is also "good news" — the concert will be accompanied by James Vaughn at the piano. The audience was offered a glass of sparkling wine in the theater's bars while the theater staff removed chairs and music stands from the stage and installed a grand piano.
Initially, the audience was shocked when they greeted the news with shouts of "shame", but later the audience realized that they had come to a unique event. The artists encore three times, the concert ended with a long standing ovation.
It should be noted that the CGIL trade union announced an eight-hour general strike, which was scheduled for the day of the concert. Among the demands of the protesters are higher salaries and pensions; increased funding for education, healthcare, free public services, including transport; increased investment in industry; rejection of the budget maneuver that will lead Italians to seven years of austerity.