N. Y. City Opera Strikers Rehearsing for a Long Run

NEW YORK â€”  There was music and singing at Wednesday night’s strike-canceled performance of the New York City Opera’s “Il Barbiere di Sivigliaâ€� at Lincoln Center, but not on stage. In front of the New York State Theater, musicians walking the picket line provided the show in a dispute that has put the remaining eight weeks of the season in jeopardy.

John Palanchian, vice president of the local and the orchestra’s chief negotiator, expressed pessimism as he predicted a long strike. His views were echoed by orchestra members on the picket line.

Howard Van Hynnan, a percussionist who brought his snare drum and delivered an “Andrea Chenier� type execution drum roll as he marched, said: “We are prepared for the long haul. This is a matter not only of money but of principle.�

Martin J. Oppenheimer, vice chairman of the City Opera Board and its chief negotiator, was more optimistic. “We regret this strike and its innocent victims. We do not want a repetition of the strike six years ago when 54 days of the season were lost. We feel no hostility toward the orchestra. They are part of our family. We don’t want firings or strike breakers.�

Talk of family did not impress Liza Hirsch DuBrul, a lawyer for New York’s Local 802 of the American Federation of Musicians and who was an adviser for Local 47 (the Los Angeles Philharmonic musicians union). “I started out with Cesar Chavez’s farm workers union. Believe me, there are attitude similarities here. Many management people view musicians as dispensable commodities.�

Negotiations reached an impasse Monday on a contract to replace the one which expired May 31. A strike vote was taken Tuesday and by a vote of 53-4, the musicians elected to walk.

Two major issues caused the breakdown in talks. The first concerned City Opera’s refusal to guarantee six additional weeks to the 23-week season, which had been part of a past contract. The second was an attempt by the union to achieve compensation parity with the orchestras of the San Francisco Opera and Lyric Opera of Chicago, which the union estimated to entail an increase of 25%.

The final management offer was for the 23-week season and a 4% increase each year of a three-year agreement. No further talks are scheduled.

In Los Angeles, the British-American soprano, Anna Steiger, scheduled to make her City Opera debut Oct. 1 in the title role of Janacek’s “Cunning Little Vixen,� expressed disappointment at the possible cancellation of the rest of the NYCO season.

“I’m just appalled,� said Steiger, who is in Los Angeles singing the role of Jenny in Music Center Opera’s “Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny.�

“And I’m not very hopeful that this will be over soon. I’m not going to wait around,� said the daughter of actors Claire Bloom and Rod Steiger. After “Mahagonny� closes on Sunday, she plans to fly home to London.

Most of the potential audience of the New York City Opera had been alerted to the musician’s strike by the media and few showed up Wednesday night. But many foreigners were bewildered by the turn of events. One couple from Brazil, used to such events at home, seemed resigned.

Four female students from Japan were having trouble reading the refund instructions posted on the State Theater doors. A couple from Spain was leaving for Cincinnati the next day and one West German youngster asked plaintively, “Do you think they’ll send my money to Dusseldorf?�

Capt. Daniel Carlin of the New York Police Department negotiated a compromise between Lincoln Center and the pickets. They were allowed to move from the side street to the front of the theater for 10 minutes. As the musicians assembled they began singing the Star-Spangled Banner. When they reached the final “banner,� where most of the public wrongly adds a note, the orchestra, not surprisingly, sang it perfectly.

Times Music Writer Daniel Cariaga contributed to this article.