Chaos at La Scala
Netrebko and Kaufmann save evening without orchestra!
On the 100th anniversary of Giacomo Puccini's death, of all days, Anna Netrebko and Jonas Kaufmann had to perform their concert at the Milan Gala, which had been sold out for months, without an orchestra - the musicians went on strike in protest against the Italian government. The performance turned out to be a complete success - but the audience will still get their money back.
Austrian by choice Anna Netrebko and star tenor Jonas Kaufmann made the best of the emergency situation and were accompanied only by pianist James Vaughn on the piano. The program included Puccini arias. Unlike other theaters, La Scala had not warned of possible strikes, even after the rehearsal for the Puccini concert on Friday morning had been canceled due to the work stoppage.
Performance a complete success - but money back anyway
The performance by Netrebko and Kaufmann proved to be a success despite the absence of the orchestra. Netrebko shared a short video on her Instagram account on Saturday and wrote to her fans: "... in this case - just smile and sing and dance 
VIVA PUCCINI!"
The audience applauded the star singers with enthusiasm. Some shouted "Shame, shame!" at the absent orchestra members. Scala director Dominique Meyer announced that the audience would be refunded for the concert. "We didn't know in advance who would join the strike, so we didn't cancel the concert," explained Meyer.
Union spokesman Giuseppe Puglisi replied that the staff had been announcing their participation in the strike for days. Riccardo Muti had already played Traviata arias at the piano during a strike by the La Scala orchestra in 1995.
Eight-hour strike
In Italy, two major trade union confederations called an eight-hour strike on Friday against the budget plans of the right-wing government of Giorgia Meloni. Workers in the education, health and industry sectors took part in the strike. There was also a strike in local and air transport.
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