Union members did participate in the final dress rehearsal for Traviata yesterday, according to The Chicago Tribune. The final rehearsal for a production of La Bohme, starring Angela Gheorghiu and directed by retired soprano legend Renata Scotto, remains planned for tomorrow, with the first performance scheduled for Monday, October 1.
AGMA national executive director Alan Gordon told the Tribune that the main points of dispute were health insurance (he says that Lyric wants members, for the first time, to pay 8.5% of insurance costs, and that soloists would have to work for 20 weeks instead of 16 to qualify for coverage) and staffing.
The union's handout devotes most of its space to the claim that Lyric Opera wants to do away entirely with "cover" singers (i.e., paid understudies who attend all rehearsals and are prepared to perform on short notice in case of a princpal singer's illness).
Asked by Playbill Arts for comment, Lyric director of communications Susan Mathieson Mayer would say only, "We are in negotiations with AGMA, talks are ongoing, and we fully expect a resolution by opening night."