Strike chaos at La Scala: Puccini concert without orchestra a complete success!

Strike chaos at La Scala: Puccini concert without orchestra a complete success!

On the 100th anniversary of the death of the composer Giacomo Puccini, La Scala in Milan experienced an unexpected turn of events: the famous singers Anna Netrebko and the star tenor Jonas Kaufmann had to perform their concert, which had been sold out for months, without an orchestra because the musicians did not perform due to a strike against the Italian government. Only the pianist James Vaughn accompanied the two stars on the piano, while the Puccini arias aroused great enthusiasm in the audience. Despite the extraordinary circumstances, the audience celebrated the performance euphorically and even shouted “Shame, shame!” against the missing orchestra members, like oe24 reports.

The event was a surprising success, despite loud criticism of the strikers. Scala director Dominique Meyer informed that all ticket buyers will receive their money back. “We didn’t know in advance who would join the strike, so we didn’t cancel the concert,” he explained. In fact, the union had previously announced that it would send its members on strike in protest against the budget plans of Giorgia Meloni's right-wing government, which led to a large-scale walkout on Friday in various sectors, including education and health. There were also disruptions like this in local and air traffic Krone reported.

Nevertheless, the positive spirit of the evening remained. Netrebko proudly presented a video on Instagram with the words: “…in this case – just smile and sing and dance VIVA PUCCINI!” These words reflected the fighting spirit of the artists who, despite all adversities, were able to make the best of their situation.