On Tuesday (7/8) at The Arts Desk (U.K.), mezzo-soprano Sarah Connolly writes from the Aix-en-Provence Festival in France, where protests by arts-union workers have disrupted performances. “I felt so shocked by the events that took place during the premiere of Handel’s Ariodante on 3 July … and so disappointed that our painstaking work with director Richard Jones over the last six weeks had been so comprehensively ruined, that I felt I should document what happened…. Ariodante’s first entrance is roughly 20 minutes into the show which was scheduled to start at 9pm.… A group of performers, myself included, left our [dressing rooms] to make for the stage … but shockingly the entire area had suddenly been occupied by about 40 protesters who were blowing klaxons, chanting and yelling … and jostling with police.… During David Portillo’s aria, ‘Tu vivi,’ both of us heard what sounded like a loud car alarm coming from the auditorium.… In the silence before my aria, ‘Scherza infida,’ a great lament, continuing was impossible and Andrea Marcon, our conductor, gestured to me to sit down while they brought down the curtain for a second time.… Security staff searched the auditorium and found a couple of alarms hidden under the tree and a seat.”
Posted July 10, 2014
