La Scala boss and stars demand Gaza ceasefire

La Scala boss and stars demand Gaza ceasefire

ballet

norman lebrecht

March 11, 2024

From the Associated Press:

Just before an opera-ballet set in conflict, La Scala’s principal dancer Roberto Bolle, general manager Dominique Meyer and other members of the dance company, orchestra and stage crew faced the audience as the curtain rose. It revealed a banner with the imperative: “Cease fire.”

The sentiment referring to the war in Gaza received a standing ovation lasting at least two minutes Saturday evening before the final performance of the opera house’s original production “Madina.” It tells the story of a Chechen woman who is manipulated to become a suicide bomber after she is orphaned and raped by Russian soldiers.

Read on here.

Comments

  • Barry says:

    Or what?

    The people who have to make the decision don’t care about what artists and American city councils demand of them. Nor should they.

  • Bone says:

    Has Hamas agreed to return hostages and cease fire? If not, I don’t think the military mission is complete. Just sayin’

  • yaron says:

    And if Hamas refuses, as they do since their creation?

  • william osborne says:

    Cease fire lapel buttons were also common at the Oscars ceremony. Netanyahu has seriously harmed Israel. I hope he will soon be removed from office and never return.

  • Mary Zoeter says:

    Bravo for La Scala and for the brave artists who are demanding a cease fire.

  • Sarcasmus says:

    They should also have thrown paint at paintings. All of these actions help a lot.

  • Robert Holmén says:

    There *was* a cease fire on October 6.

    Who broke that?

  • Pablito says:

    La Scala boss???
    La Scala ex-boss!

  • Zandonai says:

    Let’s get the hackneyed notion out of the way. Greart art and music will not make the world a better place. So just keep singing, playing, dancing or whatever you do and keep out of politics. — As Lorin Mazaal said when he took the NY Phil to North Korea.

  • Jed says:

    Cease fire, or we will, er, come over there and sing loudly in your faces? Or something.

    • Anthony Sayer says:

      Yup. Just don’t expect them to do anything ‘useful’, like actively support their ’cause’ which ‘means so much to them’.

      Maybe they should all enlist to fight in Al-Assad’s Syrian war, put their names down to help out Saudi Arabia against Yemen or even raise their chin to Xi-Jin Ping (or whatever spelling of his name is currently being colported in the media) about his treatment of the Uigurs.

      No takers? Just as I thought. You only have a problem with muslims dying when it’s ‘non-Muslims’ (sic) defending themselves in the process. Welcome to the 1930s.

      You useful idiots have learned nothing. Hardly surprising, since you’re incapable of independent thought. Get an education.

  • observation says:

    Italians love Hamas and Russia

  • Anthony Sayer says:

    Self-serving luxury virtue signalling, completely out of step with reality, but what can you expect? The Gazan ‘genocide’ has seen the population rise from 1.3 million in 2005 to over two million today. If Israel really is ‘committing genocide’ then they’re clearly not very good at it. Maybe these airheads should try the phrase ‘Return all hostages now’.

  • Kay Warbrick says:

    Hoorah!

  • kaa says:

    There are still decent people in the world

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