It was during last week's rehearsal of the Opera's performance "Short stories" on the opera's second stage, the Rotunda – on top of Café Opera – that it became clear that the noise from the nightclub leaked in too much.
After talks with Operakällaren, which shares the Rotunda with the Opera, and attempts to dampen the sound, the Opera found no other solution than to cancel Friday's performance.
– It was so disturbing and we now realize that it will not be possible to carry out the performance in a good way either for artists, musicians or the audience and therefore we have canceled it, says Lindgren to TT.
Now "Short stories" will play the remaining two performances on Sunday and Tuesday. Lindgren hopes that other performances will not have to suffer.
Untenable situation
The Opera has not previously encountered this problem, as they do not usually give performances at the Rotunda on Friday evenings. But this is further proof of the opera house's poor condition, according to the Opera.
"It shows the untenable situation that Sweden's national stage for opera and ballet does not have a worthy second stage. We need to include this in future discussions about the opera house," says Lindgren.
Renovation needs
The issue of renovating the Opera has been dragged on since Fredrik Reinfeldt's government, with Minister of Culture Lena Adelsohn Liljeroth (M), promised two billion SEK in 2013 to rebuild the building. Since then, the issue has ended up on the table of a number of culture ministers.
In mid-March this year, the government rejected the two existing renovation proposals and requested a new, third, alternative. Last spring, the National Property Board of Sweden requested SEK 90 million to conduct a feasibility study for the renovation.