Bucharest Opera on Strike

Andrei Rădulescu-Banu: The Bucharest Opera, in all its glory - but the show is cancelled. The short gist of it: ballet director got fired by conductor (but with ethnic overtones, because the ballet director is Dane, the conductor Romanian). The curtain stays closed, the singers are in the audience, asking for higher salaries and for a shot to be allowed on stage. Listen to them sing the Hebrew Slaves Chorus from Nabucco, by Verdi. We hoped to see instead Falstaff, by the same Verdi - supposedly one of the most comedic opera roles written. Instead, the joke is on us.


(Bucureşti)