La Fenice Cancels Fedora Season Opening as Strike Goes Ahead

Teatro La Fenice has cancelled the first night of its 2026–27 season because of a strike. The 13 November performance of Umberto Giordano’s Fedora will not take place, the Venice opera house has confirmed. The strike notice was issued by its workplace representatives on 9 October and had not been withdrawn when the cancellation was announced. Rai Radio 3, which had planned to broadcast the opening, has not announced a replacement date for that transmission.

The production itself remains scheduled. La Fenice says Fedora is now due to open on 14 November, with further performances on 15, 17, 18, 19, 20 and 22 November. Donato Renzetti conducts the new staging by Hugo de Ana. The announced cast includes Maria Agresta, Rachele Stanisci, Ekaterina Bakanova, Lucrezia Drei, Vincenzo Costanzo, Rosario La Spina, Simone Piazzola and Enrico Di Geronimo. Any later changes will depend on the theatre’s subsequent notices.

An opening night is more than the first ticketed performance: it anchors a season’s public launch, press coverage and broadcast plans. A strike at that point therefore affects artists, audiences and the company’s wider presentation even if later performances proceed. The published information confirms the cancellation and the unchanged strike notice, but it does not establish that the labour dispute has been resolved or that all future dates are guaranteed.

For ticket holders, the immediate issue is the theatre’s guidance for the cancelled date. For the company, the near-term test is whether the revised opening can proceed while negotiations continue. The case also shows how a labour dispute can interrupt the most visible moment in an opera house’s annual calendar without cancelling the entire production.