Teatro San Carlo Artists Call for Ceasefire in Gaza

On Feb. 27, 2024, following a performance of “Don Giovanni” at the Teatro San Carlo, the artists raised a sign at the end of the curtain call that called for a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip.

The sign read in Italian “Cessate il Fuoco” and the audience in attendance exploded in applause and gave the artists a standing ovation.

It’s not the first time the Teatro San Carlo is part of a political display. At the beginning of the war in Ukraine, Russian mezzo Ekaterina Gubanova and Ukrainian soprano Liudmyla Monastyrska made headlines when they hugged during the curtain call to “Aida.” The moment went viral and represented a symbolic gesture of peace, which the two artists wanted to send to the world. In the audience, many screamed “pace!” as the two embraced.

Ever since the beginning of the Israel-Hamas war, more than 30,000 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza, a vast majority of them civilians, including over 12,300 children, 8,400 women, 152 UN staff members, and 70 journalists. On Oct. 7 when the war began following a terrorist attack in Israel, 1,139 Israelis and foreign nationals were killed, including 766 civilians and 373 security forces personnel.