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By Matthew Westphal
26 Oct 2007
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| The Palais Garnier (top) and the Opéra-Bastille, the two houses of the Paris Opera. |
This evening's two performances at the Opéra National de Paris, one of them a world premiere, were cancelled this afternoon because of labor unrest.
At the Palais Garnier, the Paris Opera Ballet was set to give the first performance of Genus, a new work by British choreographer Wayne McGregor, along with a revival of Songe de Médée by renowned French choreographer Angelin Preljocaj. At the Opéra-Bastille, a revival of Werner Schroeter's staging of Tosca, starring Catherine Naglestad, was called off as well.
Due to a walkout by backstage technical staff at the request of several national unions, most of the Paris Opera's performances for the remainder of October are under threat of cancellation, according to the company's website. These include four further performances of Tosca at the Bastille (with Sylvie Valayre alternating with Naglestad) and two of La traviata at the Garnier (with Christine Schäfer and Nataliya Kovalova sharing the role of Violetta), as well as the dance program.
On the other hand, the McGregor and Preljocaj ballets will be presented as scheduled on Sunday afternoon (Oct. 28), as will an evening chamber music concert at the Garnier.
Information (in French) will be updated as available on the company's website, www.operadeparis.fr.
The technical workers are joining the nationwide strikes over President Nicolas Sarkozy's plan to reform the various national union pension schemes. Protests against the reform have led to major strikes this week against Air France and the French national rail system, among others.
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