An Unusual ‘Don Carlo’ in Washington : Opera: Two pianos and a synthesizer fill in for the Kennedy Center house orchestra after contract negotiations break off in a labor dispute.

The Kennedy Center saw one of its more unusual openings Saturday night. One of the grandest of grand operas, Verdi’s “Don Carlo,” opened the Washington Opera’s season, with the orchestra replaced by two pianos and a synthesizer providing the sounds of bells and organ.

The company’s contract with the Kennedy Center Opera House Orchestra expired Aug. 31. Negotiations, begun last July, were broken off on Oct. 24, when Martin Feinstein, the opera’s general director, canceled the orchestra’s rehearsals and announced the substitution of the two pianos.

Also replaced were the originally announced conductor, Rafael Fruhbeck de Burgos, and the basso Nicolai Ghiaurov, who was to have sung the role of Philip II. Neither felt he could perform without an orchestra; both were hopeful enough to wait until a week before the scheduled opening to withdraw.

David Lawton took over as conductor (he had been scheduled to conduct the last of the seven performances of “Don Carlo” from the outset, as Fruhbeck has a commitment elsewhere for that date). The Armenian bass Barseg Tumanian--who sang the role with L.A. Music Center Opera in 1990--made an impressive Washington debut as Philip.

Others in the cast were Giacomo Aragall as Carlo, Lajos Miller as Rodrigo, Stefka Evstatieva as Elisabetta, Nina Terentieva as Princess Eboli and John Macurdy as the Grand Inquisitor.

The Washington Opera is not an operating unit of the Kennedy Center but simply one of its tenants. As such it contracts for the use of the Kennedy Center Opera House Orchestra, just as the center itself does for its own productions of ballet, opera and musical theater.

The instrumentalists say they are paid $525 a week by the opera, less than half the $1,100 they receive from the Kennedy Center for ballet performances. The opera management offered an increase that would have cost about $300,000, spread over the three years of a proposed new contract; the musicians held out for a larger package of wage increases and benefits that would have cost about $800,000.

The situation was touch-and-go right up to the opening because of uncertainty over how sympathetic the stagehands and chorus members might be with the orchestra. Some stagehands were on the picket lines with the house orchestra musicians Saturday night, carrying signs claiming a “lockout,” but the performance was not affected.

Members of the National Symphony Orchestra also joined the picket lines. To avoid crossing those lines when it was time for their own concert, they were escorted into the building by members of the house orchestra through a service entrance. They then showed their solidarity further by adding a piece to their program, with the cooperation of their guest conductor, James Conlon.

William Foster, chairman of the NSO players committee, read a statement advising that he and his colleagues would contribute part of their earnings to support the Opera House Orchestra.

“To express the NSO musicians’ conviction that an orchestra, not two pianos, should be playing the music of Verdi in this building tonight,” Foster concluded, “we would like to play, before our program, Verdi’s ‘La Forza del Destino’ Overture.” (“Don Carlo” has no overture.)

In the Opera House, Feinstein received sustained applause when he appeared on stage to introduce the performance. He declared that “other unions were passing the picket lines to support the Washington Opera” and charged that members of his production have been subjected to harassment. The company had offered refunds to ticket-holders unhappy about the orchestra’s absence, but only 6% took that option, and the tickets they gave up were resold in minutes. Every seat was filled, and so was the standing room.

During the first intermission, some audience members made comparisons with silent movie pianos; others remarked happily that “you can really hear the voices.” After Act II, one man in black tie rose from his $100 seat to declaim, “Orchestra! Orchestra at any price!” At the end there was a bit of symbolic booing mixed in with the applause when the pianists appeared onstage.

“Don Carlo” will run through Nov. 25. The second production of the company’s season, Mozart’s “Don Giovanni,” is scheduled to open Saturday with seven performances through Nov. 30--accompanied by a string quartet instead of the orchestra, an option Mozart may have authorized, according to Feinstein.

In a letter to subscribers last week, Feinstein advised that if the orchestra situation is not resolved by the end of this month, the remainder of the season might be canceled.