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By Ben Mattison
03 Feb 2006
Three major Italian houses could face government takeovers because of growing financial problems, the London Times reports.
Venice's La Fenice has a deficit of 3 million euros; Genoa's Teatro Carlo Felice expects a loss of 4.6 million euros; Naples' Teatro San Carlo projects a shortfall of close to 7 million euros. Italian law says that any opera house with a deficit of over 5 million euros will be declared bankrupt and placed under the oversight of a government appointee.
The opera houses blame the government for their financial problems. Prime minister Silvio Berlusconi has slashed the country's arts budget, much of which is spent on subsidizing opera, by one third.
Teatro San Carlo has been forced to cancel ballet performaces, according to the Times, and Teatro Carlo Felice has canceled performances of Janácek's Kát'a Kabanová and Verdi's Un ballo in maschera.
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