“The work was conceived as a collection of impressions sourced from many New York stories that speak, each in their own ways, to the effects of rapid urban change provide space to reflect on your own relationship to the city,” says Johnson.Īn estimated fifteen thousand people attended “The Mile Long Opera.” “We’re scheduling the maximum number of opera performances we believe we can sell.” Other commentators echoed him, saying that public interest in stuffy, intimidating, expensive opera is inevitably dwindling. “It’s a national trend that opera performances are harder and more expensive to sell than they ever have been,” Freud told the Chicago Tribune. Yet the concerns that provoked the strike remained - at least as Lyric Opera CEO Anthony Freud saw it. 15, the musicians had settled the strike (securing a modest raise, 5 more weeks in the 2019-2020 season, and a few other concessions), and performances were back on. The walkout shuttered “Idomeneo” and a concurrent run of “La Bohème.”īy Oct. 9, after the Chicago Federation of Musicians rejected a new contract that included a pay cut, shorter performance season, and the loss of five jobs. It was business as usual, until the Lyric orchestra went on strike on Oct. (Full disclosure: This reporter was also a part of this opera, in a non-singing supernumerary, or extra, role.) The voices were in fine form and the set, adorned with a two-story relief sculpture, was impressive. The dress rehearsal for the opera “Idomeneo” was set for Oct.