Earlier this month, In response to government cuts in subsidies, the director general Joan Francesco Marco announced closures of the house between March 20 and April 10 and between June 5 and July 8.

The closures were widely criticized in the local press and the staff planned a strike during the run of Puccini’s La bohème which opens this Friday. The labor unions have made some compromises, however, and the budget gap of €3.7 million seems to have been largely closed with these new agreements. Staff reductions and other measures to meet the reduced subsidies are still under review.

The double-bill of Zemlinsky’s operas, The Dwarf and A Florentine Tragedy and the run of Debussy’s Pelléas et Mélisande will be performed as scheduled.

Frank Cadenhead