“The coronavirus pandemic has challenged day-to-day norms in the opera industry,” writes Rebecca Schmid in Monday’s (5/10) New York Times. “But while addressing those challenges, some houses have found new ways to tackle another crisis with potentially broader implications: climate change. One of them is La Scala, in Milan, which will install solar panels on the roof of its new office tower in December 2022 while further digitizing operations to cut back on an estimated 10 tons of paper per year. The house has reduced carbon emissions by over 630 tons since 2010 … Those initiatives are part of a growing movement across the music industry. The Sydney Opera in Australia has been a front-runner internationally, having already achieved its aim of becoming carbon-neutral three years ago…. The Opéra de Lyon in France has reduced its consumption of electricity by 40 percent since 2010 and has joined forces with Sweden’s Goteborg Opera, the Tunis Opera in Tunisia and four specialized organizations to explore production methods in keeping with the principles of a circular economy…. The pandemic has made environmental consciousness a more urgent and passionate issue…. An ecologically sustainable infrastructure can also be economically advantageous.” Read Symphony magazine’s Spring 2020 “Eco-Conscious Orchestras” article.
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