National Opera conflict to be discussed at extended meeting

People’s artist Elena Gherman, member of the initiative group for removing Valeria Seican from the position of director of the National Opera and Ballet Theater (NOBT) “Maria Biesu”, says that the presidential team hasn’t been informed about the Theater staff’s problems. The statements were made for Info-Prim Neo after the group’s meeting with Mihail Sleahtitchi, presidential counselor in the field of culture, education and science. Minister of Culture Boris Focsa and head of the Theaters Union Sandu Grecu attended the meeting as well. According to Elena Gherman, those who attended the meeting have been touched by the information revealed by the artists, as they had not known about the conflict within the Theater. “Those from the President’s Office told us they weren’t aware of all our problems because the Theater director always said everything was ok”, explained Elena Gherman. As a result of the meeting, it was decided that next week an expanded meeting would take place, with the participation of Theater employees and of Valeria Seican. The artists that formed the initiative group complained to the press on Thursday that their wages were cut by 30% after Valeria Seican had been appointed and that she cancelled several tours of the Theater. As a sign of protest, the artists decided not to participate in the International Festival “Maria Biesu Invites” this fall. Valeria Seican told Info-Prim Neo she regretted that the problems of the theater world came into the spotlight this way. As for the accusations against her, Valeria Seican is sure they were a result of an excess of emotions and said that wages were cut not by her, but according to a Government decision. The NOBT manager said that only 16 million lei were allotted by the Government for theater maintenance in 2012, instead of the requested 42 million. This is the reason why the fee for renting the theater’s space was increased: to gather the resources to pay the employee’s wages. Seican disregarded the artists’ threat to boycott the International Festival “Maria Biesu”, saying that 600 artists of the Theater work with dedication to organize it.