29 Feb 2012
Gran Teatre del Liceu Reverses Course
Barcelona’s opera, the Gran Teatre del Liceu, has reversed course and restored cuts in the current season made earlier this month.
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Commentary
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